State seeks MCI nod to open six medical colleges

The Karnataka government has submitted a proposal to the Medical Council of India (MCI), seeking permission to start six new medical colleges across the State.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said if MCI accords permission, medical colleges will be opened in Koppal, Gadag, Gulbarga, Madikeri, Karwar and Chamarajnagar districts in the next academic year, and with this, the total number of medical colleges in the State will be 16, he added.

Besides, the government has planned to set up multi-speciality hospitals in four revenue divisions – Mysore, Hubli, Gulbarga and Bangalore – in order to make healthcare affordable to low income groups. In the first phase, such hospitals will be set up in Gulbarga and Mysore, while another is already under construction in Bellary. A cardiology unit will be developed in Mysore  along with the existing trauma centre. Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, which is also known as OPEC hospital in Raichur, will be reopened soon after it is refurbished, he added.

The government is also planning to distribute drugs to poor patients free of cost in all government hospitals across the State. “I am not happy with the existing drug procurement policy and affairs at the Karnataka State Drug Logistics and Warehousing Society,” he said.
A high-level official committee, which was set up to study drug procurement and to bring transparency in the process, visited Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The model system will be implemented after receiving the committee’s report.

On shortage of doctors in rural areas, he said that a Bill that proposes to make one-year rural service mandatory for the MBBS graduates is awaiting approval by the President. Once the Bill is passed, the candidates who fail to serve in rural areas for a year will not be awarded degree, he added.