Protests against the Punjab government's decision to hike fee of MBBS students have intensified across the state. The ongoing protests by doctors and students associations have now been joined in by opposition parties like Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Admi Party.
Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of Patiala Government Medical College wore black ribbons while Medical Education and Research Minister O.P. Soni visited the college premises to inaugurate a new VRDL lab. While Soni claimed that no student or doctor had approached him regarding any objection to the fee hike, the protesting doctors claimed they were not allowed to speak to him.
“We are already paying the highest fees in entire North India with disparity ranging from 60 per cent to 100 per cent. They are justifying it in the name of infrastructure up-gradation, notwithstanding that various government colleges in other states who are far ahead are taking half the fee. What is the point of an institution being government-run if they start behaving like private players, making education a business?” asked Patiala RDA president Dr Nitin Chabbra while talking to THE WEEK.
As per the latest orders of the Punjab government, the fee for a full five-year course in government medical colleges from the forthcoming session would be hiked by almost 80 per cent. Students, who now pay Rs 4.5 lakh, will have to pay Rs 7.8 lakh from now on. The average fee in government medical colleges of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh is around Rs 52,000 and Rs 60,000 respectively.
“Medical students are one of the most harried lots in the state. While we are expected to pay more than double the fee, we are paid the lowest stipend. The current decision will make medical education out of bounds for a poor student. The justification of this massive fee hike in the name of infrastructure upgradation is unacceptable to us,” Dr J.P. Singh, president of Amritsar RDA told THE WEEK.
When contacted by THE WEEK, minister Soni said that the hike was marginal and the matter was being blown out of proportion. “So far no student has approached me with an objection to the fee hike. It is a marginal increase being done to upgrade the medical education standards of the state. It is eventually going to benefit the students as the money will be ploughed back. The matter is being politicised for cheap political gains”, he said.
Protesters say the government decision will make medical education out of bounds for poor students | Aayush Goel
Union minister and senior SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal has demanded immediate withdrawal of the “draconian decision”, calling it a grave injustice to students and their parents. She has also demanded immediate hike of stipend of doctors which happens to be the lowest in the country.
Meanwhile, the AAP held a massive protest march in Amritsar accusing the state government of patronising the liquor mafia by providing them economic relief while robbing the poor students.
