Lead story: BDS fee hike, bond upsets dental college students
The corrigendum issued by the state government on June 13 announcing a hike in BDS course fee from the upcoming session has irked the students pursuing the course at Government Dental College and the SGPC-run Guru Ram Das Dental College. The government notification also imposed a Rs 20 lakh service bond for the academic session 2025-26.
The students pursuing BDS at Government Dental College said the government was keen to boost its income and resources but it remains silent on acute staff crunch and introduction of state-of-the-art machinery to match global standards.
The move is aimed at addressing shortage of medical professionals in government-run health institutions. The new bond policy ensures that after passing out, students either serve in government-run institutions for two years or pay a bond of Rs 20 lakh, they said.
However, medical students said the Punjab Medical Education Department’s order states that the duration of the bond is one year for the All-India quota students and two years for state quota students. They point out that the government found it convenient to trap fresh medical graduates while they have no control over their own employees.
Many students in the final year of the BDS said they were not averse to serving in rural areas provided the government ensured a handsome salary for them, an annual hike as per the national inflationary trend, job security and social welfare policies.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said that the Union government has also unveiled plans to substantially increase the number of medical seats for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes available nationwide. This will also be introduced in a year or two which will not only address the escalating demand for medical professionals in the country but also increase its income from student fee.
The government, in line with its commitment made in the 2025 Union Budget, which highlighted the addition of 75,000 new medical seats over the next five years, feels it would improve its earnings but the students wanted an answer to questions like who would ensure the quality delivery of education and modern gadgets?
They rued that the local Government Dental College has been facing a staff shortage to the extent of 82 per cent, including those of Professors and Association Professors, which have been lying vacant for the past several years, but the government never bothered to carry out jobs expected from them and it remains unanswerable.
An intern said that despite a long drawn campaign, the government did not increase their stipend and decrease MBBS fee. Now they are being harassed with the introduction of new norms, including bonds. With fee soaring up to Rs 2.49 lakh annually for government quota students and a whopping about Rs 15 lakh for private management quota students, interns have to be satisfied with a measly Rs 15,000 stipend.
wuw
Amritsar