Few takers for NRI quota MBBS seats in Punjab

Faridkot, November 17

Much to the disappointment of medical colleges in the state, only 10 candidates applied for 156 NRI quota MBBS seats at 10 institutes in the second round of the ongoing counselling.

In the first round of MBBS counselling, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) which is conducting the counselling, could fill only 23 of 179 NRI quota seats.

In the second round of the counselling yesterday, the BFUHS received only 10 applications against 156 vacant MBBS seats.

Among the 10 candidates, only one NRI originally belongs to Punjab and nine belong to other states.

Other than the NRI quota MBBS seats, the BFUHS has 175 BDS seats for NRI candidates at 15 dental colleges across the state.

All these seats had remained vacant in the first round of counselling. The NRI quota seats have been the main source of revenue for medical and dental colleges in the state.

The full-course fee for an MBBS seat is USD 1,10,000 at all government and private medical colleges and the fee for a BDS seat is USD 44,000.

Even in postgraduate medical and dental courses, only a few candidates applied for the NRI quota seats.

The full course fee is

USD 1,25,000 and only eight candidates have applied for the 45 seats available.