Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann laid the foundation stone for the Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Government Medical College in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on Sunday. According to news agency PTI, the college, which will cost Rs 300 crore to build, is expected to provide 50 MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) seats. Officials said this will be the third medical college in the Doaba region of Punjab, following those in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala, which also had their foundation stones laid by Mann.

The new medical college will be linked to the District Civil Hospital in SBS Nagar, a facility currently lacking specialised medical services. The establishment of the college aims to address this gap by providing round-the-clock access to specialist and super-specialist doctors.