Chandigarh, March 6: The Punjab government has announced plans to establish seven new medical colleges across the state, a move aimed at expanding medical education infrastructure and adding around 600 MBBS seats.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh said the proposed institutions will include two government medical colleges, two under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, and three promoted by private and minority organisations.
One of the major projects under the plan is the Shaheed Udham Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences in Hoshiarpur. Construction of the institute will begin on March 20 and is expected to be completed by March 2028. The project has received administrative approval of ₹274.75 crore and will include a 300-bed hospital along with a medical college offering 100 MBBS seats annually. The campus will feature a five-storey hospital building, a three-storey academic block, modern laboratories, a library and a 500-seat auditorium.
Singh said the state government had revised the earlier cost estimates and reduced the project expenditure from ₹550 crore to ₹274 crore, resulting in savings of nearly ₹250 crore of public funds.
Another government medical college is planned in Kapurthala, while institutions under the PPP model are proposed in Sangrur and SBS Nagar. Additionally, a Jain minority medical college will be set up in Lehragaga in Sangrur district, and a Muslim minority institution is planned in Malerkotla. A private medical college is also proposed near Ludhiana.
At present, Punjab has 13 medical colleges with nearly 1,900 MBBS seats. The new institutions are expected to significantly enhance the state’s medical education capacity.
The minister also said that existing medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot are being upgraded to postgraduate level to provide super-speciality medical services.
“Seven new medical colleges will be established across the state, adding around 600 MBBS seats to Punjab’s medical education capacity,” Singh said.
He added that the expansion will help students pursue medical studies within the country and reduce the need to travel abroad to countries such as Ukraine, China and Nepal for medical degrees.
