State may lose 450 seats in medical colleges, ESIs

The State is  likely to lose about 450 undergraduate seats in government medical colleges and two ESI hospitals in Gulbarga and Bangalore for the present academic year 2014-15, as the institutions lack adequate infrastructure facilties.

According to Medical Education Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has rejected 100 seats in Bangalore Medical College and 50 each in Karnataka Institute of Medical Science at Hubli, Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences at Bellary, and Mysore Medical College at Mysore.

Patil said the MCI had rejected 100 additional seats in BMC as it lacked proper hostel facilties. In Mysore and Bellary medical colleges, the MCI rejected 50 seats each as they did not have teachers in certain faculties.

“The MCI rejecting 450 government seats is not final. The MCI executive committee will meet on June 13, wherein we will try to convince them to allow these 450 seats to be added to the list,” said Patil.

He said the government had already taken remedial measures by releasing Rs 117 crore for the purpose of constructing additional hostel facilities on the BMC premises.

Recruitment of teachers in the other three medical colleges is on the verge of completion. “But due to the Lok Sabha elections and the Model Code of Conduct, hiring was put on hold. We shall be completing the process in the coming months,” he said.

The minister said the government was seeking the approval of the MCI for six additional colleges to start from the 2015-16 academic year. Patil said that if the MCI approved their demand for colleges in Koppal, Gulbarga, Gadag, Chamarajnagar, Karwar and Kodagu, then the government will have an additional 900 seats. He said the government had already made temporary arrangements to run colleges in four of the six districts.

Patil said the government was also seeking approval for having 100 seats each in the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESI) hospitals of Gulbarga and Bangalore.

The Medical Education department and the Health and Family Welfare department have decided to form an independent medical supplies procurement corporation, along the lines of the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation. Patil said the BMC alone procured drugs worth Rs 10 crore. “If the corporation is formed, then all government hospitals will be able to receive adequate drugs and medical supplies at cheaper rates. Even procurement costs will come down,” he said.