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Punjab Govt hikes MBBS fee by 80%; Twitter says 'will discourage brilliant students from poor families'

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The Punjab Government on Wednesday announced to increase the fee for the MBBS course in Government and Private Medical Colleges of the state. They noted that the hike is to "ensure better medical education and infrastructure facilities for students".

Taking to Twitter, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh wrote, "To ensure better medical education and infrastructure facilities for students, CM @capt_amarinder Singh led #PunjabCabinet has decided to increase the fee for the MBBS course in Government and Private Medical Colleges of the state."

According to a report in HT, the fee for the five-year MBBS course in government-run medical colleges will now be Rs 7.8 lakh from Rs 4.4 lakh previously (nearly 80% increase). Meanwhile, in private medical colleges, the fee for government quota seats has been increased from Rs 13.4 lakh to Rs 18 lakh (35% increase) and for the management quota, the fee is now Rs 47 lakh instead of Rs 40.3 lakh which is an increase of around 17%.

The Punjab Government runs three medicals colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot and they have 225, 250 and 125 MBBS seats respectively. According to IE, Government Medical College at Mohali will offer 100 MBBS seats from this session onwards.

The state has six private medical colleges with a total of 775 seats. Here, 50 per cent of the seats are reserved for government quota, 35 per cent for management quota and 15 per cent for NRIs.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Government's decision to hike the fee has not been well received. "SAD strongly opposed the Punjab cabinet’s decision to increase fee for MBBS in govt & private medical colleges. This will further discourage brilliant students from poor families to become doctors and serve in rural areas. Rather they should think of subsidising med education," said Dr Daljit S Cheema, former Punjab Education Minister.

Many others on Twitter have opposed the move. Here are some of the Twitter reactions: