Announcement of establishment of seven new medical colleges in Punjab

Under the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to improve health care and medical education, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh has announced plans to set up seven new medical colleges in the state.

The scheme includes two government medical colleges, two colleges under public-private partnership (PPP) and three colleges developed by private and minority organizations.

Dr. Balbir Singh told in a press conference held at Punjab Bhawan that the construction work of Shaheed Udham Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences in Hoshiarpur will start from March 20, 2026. The institute will be ready in 24 months and is expected to be completed by March 2028. He informed that the project has received administrative approval of Rs 274.75 crore, which will include a 300-bed hospital and a medical college with 100 MBBS seats.

The Health Minister was also present along with Principal Secretary Health Kumar Rahul, Special Secretary-cum-MD Punjab Health System Corporation (PHSC) Amit Talwar and Director Research and Medical Education Dr. Avnish Kumar.

The minister said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Mann, the Punjab government reduced the estimated cost of this project from Rs 550 crore to Rs 274 crore, thereby saving public money of about Rs 250 crore.

Dr. Balbir Singh said that apart from Hoshiarpur, a government medical college is also being constructed in Kapurthala, the tender process of which has been completed. Apart from this, colleges will also be opened in Sangrur and SBS Nagar under PPP mode.

A college is being constructed by the Jain community in Leharagaga, for which the government has taken land on lease. At the same time, DPR for the college being built by the Muslim community in Malerkotla has been submitted to the Central Government. A private medical college is also being built near Ludhiana.

The Health Minister said that the construction of these new medical colleges will increase the medical education capacity of the state, so that local students will not have to go abroad for studies. Presently there are 13 medical colleges in Punjab with 1900 MBBS seats, and the new colleges will increase the number of seats by about 600.

Dr. Balbir Singh also informed that the existing medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot will be upgraded to Post Graduate Institute level to provide super-specialty services.

It is noteworthy that the institute to be built in Hoshiarpur will have a five-storey hospital and a three-storey medical college building, which will include modern laboratories, library and a 500-seat auditorium. Along with this, the clinical infrastructure will also have facilities like ICU, general surgery, orthopedics and psychology.