The State Government’s effort to attract more students to paramedical courses seems to have received cold-shoulder. Only four per cent seats in physiotherapy, 16 per cent in nursing and 28 per cent in pharmacy courses under government quota have been filled up in 2007-08.

The government sanctioned a good number of colleges in the last three years to meet the growing demand from the healthcare industry. But the enthusiasm from the students waned quickly.

According to a nursing college principal, the mushrooming of colleges in other states have led to drop in admissions. “Karnataka students are interested only in professional courses. They think that paramedical courses do not have scope. Besides, there are many colleges which do not have good infrastructure. Hence, seats remain vacant in these colleges,” he added.

The figures show that only 16 seats were filled out of 429 seats in physiotherapy. In pharmacy, while 825 seats were available, 227 opted for it. As for nursing, only 560 candidates applied for 3,675 seats.

Following the poor response, the government transferred its quota by 10 per cent seats to managements. But it had not helped to salvage the situation. Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Registrar (RGUHS) Dr S Vasantha Kumar said the university will study the reasons for drop in admissions and take corrective measures.

A Karnataka Nursing Council official said, “ The minimum intake for a college to start the course is 20 but considering the current situation, the colleges will have to explore other options.” There are 487 nursing colleges, but they do not have adequate intake. A handful of students in some colleges are transferred to other colleges.

For instance, if a college has 15 students and another college has five, the latter will be moved to the former. The colleges with fewer students in the first year will have to run only their second and subsequent year classes, the Council official said.

Interestingly, not many from Karnataka pursue nursing course. In fact, most are from other states. They go abroad soon after completing the course and the State hospitals face shortage of nurses.  According to Dr S Kumar, Principal and Dean of M S Ramaiah Medical College, “ students want to study in those colleges, which are attached to hospitals to get a hands-on-experience.

So, well-equipped colleges do not have any problem with admissions,” he said. The eligibility criterion for the engineering has been reduced to 45 per cent and students can easily get into it, while nursing colleges have to get from neighbouring states.