JOIN USThe Centre on Thursday agreed to sanction Rs 200 crore to upgrade government medical colleges in Karnataka.
Karnataka Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas, who met Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad here to pursue the issue, told reporters that the fund would help to enhance the intake seats in all government-run medical colleges in the State. Earlier, the State government had submitted a proposal seeking Rs 1,274 crore to upgrade the medical colleges. The minister said once the entire amount was released by the Centre, as many as 700 additional medical seats both in - undergraduate and postgraduate courses - would be available.
The minister said for this academic year, the Centre on Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) has approved a total of 2,780 seats in different streams including, Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani and Naturopathy and Yoga - in 56 institutions. However, the CCIM did not approve another 27 colleges having 1,195 seats. Unless these colleges get approval before August 15, the State government will not allow these institutions to admit students for this academic year, he said. The CCIM earlier made it clear that any institutions offering Indian medicine courses should take its approval for all courses before admitting students.
DH News Service