The Punjab government has effected more than threefold increase in the MBBS/BDS tuition fee in government colleges of the state.
It will be applicable from the upcoming academic session. According to a notification issued by the department of medical education and research on Thursday, the first year students in the MBBS/BDS will have to pay Rs 80,000 as tuition fee; the fee last year was Rs 26,250.
According to the notification, the fee will increase in subsequent years for the students who will get admission in the 2015 session. In the second year, the MBBS/BDS students will have to pay Rs 90,000, Rs 1 lakh in the third year and Rs 1.1 lakh in the fourth year. In the fifth year, the students will have to pay Rs 60,000 as the students spend most of the time in hospital than in classrooms, gaining practical aspects of the course.
Earlier, the fee was Rs 26,250 for the first three years of the course and Rs 28,350 for the fourth and fifth years.
In Punjab, the fee hike has seen a steep rise in the past decade. The charges for the MBBS/BDS courses have become six-fold since 2003, when the annual fee for government colleges was Rs 13,000. In the neighbouring Himachal, the MBBS tuition fee is seven times less as compared to that in Punjab. With the current fee hike, medical and dental education in the state will become costlier than most neighbouring states.
Private colleges in the state had already increased the fee last year. The Punjab government had increased the fee for the MBBS course from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh for the first year. In the subsequent four years, the fee will increase 10% every year. It will become Rs 3.22 lakh
in the final year.
Private colleges in the state had already increased the fee last year. The Punjab government had increased the fee for the MBBS course from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.2 lakh for the first year. In the subsequent four years, the fee will increase 10% every year. It will become Rs 3.22 lakh
in the final year.
Every private medical and dental college in the state has 50% seats in the government quota, 35% in the management category, and 15% reserved for NRIs.