PUNJAB TO WITNESS HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION WITH SEVEN NEW MEDICAL COLLEGES
The colleges to be established under PPP mode will come up in Sangrur and SBS Nagar, with their tender processes underway, he said.
PUNJAB TO WITNESS HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION WITH SEVEN NEW MEDICAL COLLEGES
CHANDIGARH, 5 March 2026: In a historic move to revolutionise the healthcare and medical education landscape in the state as per the commitment of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Thursday announced the establishment of seven new Medical Colleges across the state.
The project includes the development of two government medical colleges, two institutions under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, and three through private and minority organisations.
Dr Balbir Singh, while addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan here, shared that the construction work for the Shaheed Udham Singh State Institute of Medical Sciences in Hoshiarpur is set to begin on March 20, 2026, with a total duration of 24 months leading to a completion in March 2028. This project has received administrative approval for ₹274.75 Crore and will feature a 300-bedded hospital alongside a medical college with a 100-seat annual MBBS intake, he said.
The Health Minister was accompanied by 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 highlighted that through a meticulous review of previous estimates, the CM Mann led Punjab Government has managed to reduce the project cost from an initial ₹550 Crore estimate to ₹274 Crore, effectively saving nearly ₹250 Crore of public funds.
Apart from Hoshiarpur, Dr Balbir Singh said that another Government Medical College is also being established in Kapurthala of which tender process has been completed and construction will be started shortly. The colleges to be established under PPP mode will come up in Sangrur and SBS Nagar, with their tender processes underway, he said.
Furthermore, he said that the Jain Minority College is also coming up in Lehragaga, for which the government has leased land after signing an MoU, while, the Muslim Minority College to be established in Malerkotla has submitted its DPR to the Central Government. Similarly, the private medical college is also coming up near Ludhiana, he added.
The Health Minister highlighted that the establishment of seven Medical Colleges will significantly increase the state's medical education capacity and local students will no longer have to go to countries like Ukraine, China, or Nepal to get medical degrees. Punjab currently has 13 medical colleges with 1,900 MBBS seats, and with these new institutions, approximately 600 additional seats will be added, he said.
Dr Balbir Singh also announced that existing medical colleges in Patiala, Amritsar, and Faridkot are being upgraded to the level of Postgraduate Institutes to provide super-specialty services.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Hoshiarpur facility will include a five-story hospital building and a three-story medical college building equipped with modern laboratories, a library, and a 500-seat auditorium. Clinical infrastructure will span various specialties including ICU, General Surgery, Orthopedics, and Psychiatry, supported by advanced diagnostics such as MRI and CT scans.