Fee disparity persists in pvt, govt medical colleges

PG courses: Adesh college charges Rs14.9L, others Rs1.25L and Rs 6.5L

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, March 18

Days before starting admissions to postgraduation medical courses (MD and MS) in seven medical colleges in the state, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has announced a tentative number of total seats and tuition fee for these courses.

For 671 MD/MS (clinical and basis) seats, there is a huge disparity in the fee structure in private and government medical colleges.

Against the annual tuition fee of Rs 1.25 lakh on clinical MD/MS seats in three government medical colleges at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot, three private medical colleges — CMC, DMC, Ludhiana, and Sri Guru Ram Das Medical College, Amritsar — will charge Rs 6.5 lakh per annum as tuition fee.

However, the fee in Adesh Medical College at Bathinda has been fixed at Rs 14.90 lakh per annum.

All seven medical colleges in the state are offering 671 MD/MS seats this time. About 381 of these seats are in three government medical colleges and 290 in four private medical colleges.

While the three private medical colleges have a uniform fee structure for their 244 seats, Adesh Medical College has different fee structure for its 46 seats.

Other than Adesh Medical College, the fee of all medical colleges has been fixed under the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Fee and Making of Reservation) Act.

“However, Adesh Medical University, Bathinda, is free to fix its fee structure as per the Adesh University Act,” said sources in Baba Farid University of Health Sciences.

The fee for MD (basic) courses in government medical colleges is Rs 1 lakh and it is Rs 2.60 lakh in three private medical colleges. However, it is Rs 5 lakh per annum in Adesh college.

About 50 per cent of the seats in DMC, Ludhiana, will be under government quota and 50 per cent management quota, including 15 per cent under NRI quota. The fee for NRI quota seats has been fixed at $1.25 lakh.

In Sri Guru Ram Das, there are 39 general quota seats. These include six for NRIs and 40 for Sikhs, including six for Sikh NRIs.

In Adesh college, 21 seats will be filled by college students, while 22 will be open for Indian candidates.

About 50 per cent of the seats in three government colleges in the state will be filled by way of All-India seats quota.