Punjab Government must immediately stop its efforts toward privatization of the health infrastructure: IDPD

Ludhiana, November 06, 2025: The Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has taken serious note of recent news reports about the Punjab Government’s efforts to privatize the state’s health infrastructure. The organization considers this a betrayal of the government’s own vision of a “health revolution” in Punjab.
 
Dr. Arun Mitra, President of IDPD, and Dr. Inderveer Gill, Member of the Central Committee of IDPD, informed the press that the upcoming medical colleges in Sangrur and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar will now be opened under the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model through the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), and tenders for the same have already been floated.
 
The key questions that arise are: Will the fees in these colleges remain the same as those in government medical colleges? What provisions will be made for low fees or scholarships for poor students? Will the government ensure that health services under this model remain free for all?
 
Similarly, under the Operation and Management model of PIDB, evaluation teams are being sent to government hospitals in Rajpura, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Munak, and Moga. If this is not considered the first step toward privatization, then what else can it be called?
 
Across India and Punjab, in the post-COVID period, the cost of both healthcare services and medical education has been rising sharply. Poor and working-class families neither have the financial means to afford medical treatment nor to educate their children in the field of medicine.
 
They said, “IDPD directly questions the government whether these recent privatization initiatives will be able to resolve such fundamental issues — or will they make access to healthcare and treatment even more difficult for common people?”
 
It is important to note that the Central Government is already pushing to hand over the health sector to corporate entities. It now appears that the Punjab Government is following the same path in delivering health services.
 
Concluding, they said it has been observed across the world that countries where the government itself provides healthcare services have far better health indicators compared to those where healthcare is delivered through the private sector or insurance companies. Therefore, instead of moving toward privatization, the Punjab Government should increase the health budget and directly ensure healthcare services for the people.