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Wait for new govt med college gets longer in Punjab
The work on two proposed government medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur hasn’t even started yet while the last date to apply to the apex medical education body, the NMC, is drawing nearer
The Punjab government this year will not be able to apply to the National Medical Commission (NMC) for the opening of a new government medical college for the 2025-26 academic session.
Consequently, no new government medical college would be operational in the state before March 2026.
The work on two proposed government medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur hasn’t even started yet while the last date to apply to the apex medical education body, the NMC, is drawing nearer. The applying date to the NMC — a statutory body in the country that regulates medical education is January 5, 2025.
Tenders to carry out the developmental work for these two medical colleges are yet to be awarded. Confirming the development, Hoshiarpur DC Komal Mittal said, “We had floated the tenders, but it couldn’t be materialised. We will now again float fresh tenders.”
Officials of the medical education department said that tenders to upgrade two district hospitals in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur had been floated multiple times but couldn’t be materialised.
A senior official of the medical education department, pleading anonymity, said, “We can only apply for a new medical college if we have the required bed strength of a running hospital. Currently, we don’t have the required bed strength in these two district hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. First, we have to upgrade it and then apply to the NMC. Besides, we will have to hire required teaching faculty – which is also a big task.”
Punjab has failed to keep pace with neighbouring states in expanding its number of medical colleges. The states — Rajasthan and Haryana — have significantly increased their medical education infrastructure over the past decade, while Punjab’s progress has been minimal.
Rajasthan has shown remarkable growth, increasing the number of medical colleges from 10 in 2014 to 43 in 2024. Similarly, Haryana has doubled its count from 7 in 2014 to 15 in 2024. In contrast, Punjab managed to increase its medical colleges only marginally, from 10 in 2014 to 13 during the same corresponding period.
When the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had come to power, it had announced their vision of improving health infrastructure by establishing 16 new medical colleges during its five-year tenure.
When asked about this, Punjab medical education minister Dr Balbir Singh said, “In the first three months of the next year, we will try to complete the development work of these two colleges. I will request the Union government to give us an extension of three months.”
