Only 5 Candidates Apply under NRI Quota Seats for Punjab MBBS/BDS 2nd Counselling

23 dental and medical colleges in Punjab haven’t been able to fill the NRI quota MBBS/BDS seats as there aren’t enough candidates. Out of 316 seats, 284 seats are vacant post the first round of counselling. For filling the seats under the NRI quota, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has started the application process for the second counselling round. However, only 5 candidates have applied this time around.

Even last year, the number of NRI quota BDS/MBBS seats that was reported to be vacant was 287 out of the total 309 seats. The vacant seats were then converted into the general category.

BFUHS VC, Dr Raj Bahadur said that the reason behind such a low number of students under the NRI quota seats is the high tuition fee. Apart from the tuition fee, there are many other expenses also that students have to incur during the five-year course, which makes it very expensive.

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8 colleges in the state have 140 NRI quota medical seats and 15 dental colleges offer 176 NRI quota seats. Till date, only 109 MBBS seats, which includes 45 seats in three government colleges and 175 BDS seats in 13 private and 2 government colleges are vacant. In the first round of counselling for NRI students, 32 out of the 44 candidates got admission and the rest were found to be ineligible.

The last date to accept the application for admission to the BDS and MBBS courses under the NRI quota was August 5, 2019, but only five applications had been received so far for the second round of counselling. Dr Arvind Sharma, BFUHS registrar said mentioned that they are waiting for the state government for a fresh notification regarding the BDS and MBBS admission. After the notification is released, the date of the second round of counselling will be declared.

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Also, there is no struggle as such for NRI quota seats as compared to the high level of competition that exists for government and management quota seats. NRI quota seats are seen as the main source of revenue for the medical colleges and the total course fee for NRI quota MBBS is Rs. 77 lakh in all government and private medical colleges in Punjab except one college i.e Adesh Medical College which has a fixed fee of Rs. 87.5 lakh. The fee for NRI quota BDS seats is Rs. 33 lakh.