Punjab Opp parties oppose move to hike fee in medical colleges

A day after Punjab Cabinet decided to increase the fees in the States medical colleges, both private and Government, the opposition parties have opposed the move.

State’s principal opposition party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has accused the Government of buckling under pressure of the “medical education mafia” while demanding constitution committee of judges “to check open loot by medical colleges in Punjab”.  Vehemently condemning the “backbreaking” 80 percent hike in the medical colleges’ fee structure, Bholath MLA has demanded immediate rollback, particularly in view of the impending pandemic crisis that has hit the conomy hard.

AAP alleged that, like the previous Badal government, Capt Amarinder Singh, too, had been playing into the hands of the medical education mafia active in the state.

The party demanded setting up of a commission under the watch of a sitting Judge of High Court to look into the ongoing wanton ‘loot’ of medical students in Punjab, by bringing out a white paper on the fee fixed and charged from students of MBBS, BDS, MD/MS and Nursing Colleges since 2013.

Punjab Cabinet’s decision to increase fees of medical students by 77 percent has made the medical education in Punjab more expensive than any other state of the country, said AAP MLAs — state core committee chairman Principal Budhram, chief spokesperson Prof Baljinder Kaur and Meet Hayer.

Khaira, the former Leader of Opposition, slamming the Congress led State Government said: “It is alarming to note that the Government has made this huge increase in the fee structure of the said medical colleges at a time when ordinary people are reeling under severe economic crunch.”

“This huge increase will shatter the dreams of all those youngsters aspiring to become doctors in Punjab. It is because of such erroneous and foolish decisions that the state’s youth has been migrating to other parts of the world in lakhs for better livelihood,” he said while asking the Chief Minister to immediately rollback the 80 percent steep hike in the fee structure of medical colleges of the State.