Govt quota in SGPC’s medical college to stay

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, July 16

Not agreeing with the unilateral decision of Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences (SGRDUHS) of scrapping government quota of 75 MBBS seats in Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) today announced that the seats would remain under government quota as per the old formula. Besides, there would be no change in the fee structure in the college, it said.

Two weeks ago, besides ending the government quota seats, the SGRDUHS had increased the fee from Rs 13.43 lakh to Rs 40.29 lakh plus 15 per cent registration fee, taking the total to Rs 46.33 lakh.

The BFUHS and the Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) have opposed the move as the newly formed medical university has no approval for its statues.

Even after getting its statues approved, the SGRDUHS cannot change the fee structure and seats matrix, said sources in the DMER.

Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice Chancellor, BFUHS, said: “Since there is no direction from the state government regarding ending of the government quota seats in the college, the admissions would be made as per the last year formula.”

The BFUHS today announced the fee structure for all private and government medical and dental colleges. For all MBBS and BDS seats in three government medical colleges in the state, the students will have to pay Rs 4.40 lakh and Rs 3.80 lakh as tuition fee, respectively, for full course. For government quota seats in private colleges, the fee would be Rs 13.43 lakh and Rs 7.65 lakh, respectively. For management quota seats, the fee for MBBS seat is Rs 40.29 lakh and BDS Rs 10.21 lakh.

‘No such quota in any pvt institute’

Amritsar: SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh, in a statement issued on Sunday, claimed that there was absolutely no government quota seats in any of the private universities in the country. Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research was in the process of becoming an autonomous medical university, he said. He clarified that of 150 seats, 42.5 per cent seats were for state residents with all constitutional reservations, 42.5 per cent for minorities and the remaining 15 per cent for NRIs. “All 150 seats will be filled by the BFUHS on the basis of NEET merit. Even the fee will be collected by the BFUHS," he said. TNS