For NRI seats, Amritsar college reduces MBBS fee by Rs 20 lakh

FARIDKOT: To attract NRI students, Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College (SGRDMC), Amritsar, today reduced the tuition fee from $1.1 lakh (Rs 70 lakh) to $95,000 (Rs 60.47 lakh) for the MBBS course and waived registration fee that was $16,500 (Rs 10.5 lakh).

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, August 2

To attract NRI students, Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College (SGRDMC), Amritsar, today reduced the tuition fee from $1.1 lakh (Rs 70 lakh) to $95,000 (Rs 60.47 lakh) for the MBBS course and waived registration fee that was $16,500 (Rs 10.5 lakh).

This means that NRI students will have to pay $31,500 (Rs 20.05 lakh) less this time. The SGPC-run medical college offers 23 MBBS seats under the NRI quota.

For the BDS course, the college has reduced the tuition fee from $44,000 (Rs 28 lakh) to $30,000 (Rs 19.09 lakh). The college has decided not to charge hostel fee from NRI students enrolling in the BDS course.

Adesh Medical College, Bathinda, has fixed its MBBS fee under the NRI quota at $1.25 lakh (Rs 79.5 lakh). After the Amritsar college lowered its fee for NRI students, Adesh is also thinking on the same lines, sources said.

The fee for all government and private medical colleges in the state is fixed by the Department of Medical Education and Research. But the Amritsar and Bathinda colleges, both private institutions, are taking liberty of fixing the fee on their own.

The reason for the colleges lowering the fee is that several MBBS and BDS seats across the state remain vacant every year. Last year, 100 MBBS seats out of 115 and all 202 BDS seats under the NRI quota had remained vacant. Only 29 MBBS aspirants under the NRIquota were found eligible for admission and 15 got enrolled.

For the MBBS course, students prefer Ludhiana’s DMCH and the Amritsar college. Of the 15 NRI students who got admission last year, 13 opted for the DMCH and two for the Amritsar college.

The Amritsar college is giving competition to the DMCH this time by lowering its fee, the sources said.

Cut-throat competition

For the BDS course, Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar, has reduced the tuition fee from $44,000 ( Rs 28 lakh) to $30,000 ( Rs 19.09 lakh)
The college has decided not to charge hostel fee from NRI students enrolling in the BDS course
Adesh Medical College, Bathinda, has fixed its MBBS fee under the NRI quota at $1.25 lakh ( Rs 79.5 lakh)
After the Amritsar college lowered its fee for NRI students, Adesh is also thinking on the same lines, sources said