No new government medical college coming up in Punjab in 2026

It would have been a new government medical college in the state. However, the state will not be able to apply for any new government medical college this year also. As the apex body for medical education in India, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has called for applications from new medical colleges looking to provide undergraduate (UG) programs in FY2026-27. The deadline to submit applications is January 28, 2023.

The government was thinking of filing the two proposals of the government medical colleges Hoshiarpur and Kapurthla for the creation of a new medical college but, as no upgrade process has been started so far, Punjab will not get any new government medical college before 2027.

On confirming the development, a senior official of the Punjab medical education department, who asked not to be named said, "The department is not applying for any new government medical college this year as we do not have the necessary certificate. It will take eight to ten months to meet the NMC requirements for a new medical college application."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in its inaugural budget (2022), had committed to establishing 16 medical colleges over the next five years. With no adequate facilities available locally, a large number of students from Punjab annually go abroad for MBBS. There are currently only four government medical colleges in Punjab compared to seven private ones, which have nearly 60% of the total MBBS seats in the state. 

Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences in Mohali is the last government medical college in Punjab which was started in 2021 under the previous Congress government. The government medical college in Mohali had been set up after a gap of 48 years. When asked about the problems faced while applying for new colleges, a senior official said, Awarding of tender for upgradation of district hospitals in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala was delayed due to some issues. We are considering other possibilities for starting a medical college. It is worth mentioning that the department will have to meet a very long list of NMC conditions before it can apply for a new medical college. For example, it has to hire a minimum of 85 teaching staff for 100 MBBS seats.

Along with that, Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh mentioned that there was a proposal for four to five medical colleges, of which three are government colleges.

Dr Balbir Singh was asked about the proposed government medical colleges in Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur. He replied, The tender for the upgrade of Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur hospitals will be opened by the end of this month. After that, work will commence. Apart from these two colleges, we have got land clearance from Punjab Waqf Board for setting up a college in Malerkotla.

Congress slams AAP

The president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is also the Ludhiana MP, has stated that to this point, the AAP government has failed to establish even one government medical college. He alleged that the government was only concentrating on advertising.