Karnataka may get 450 more UG medical seats

Bringing cheer to medical seat aspirants ahead of the new academic year, the state is likely to get 450 more undergraduate medical seats. The medical education department had requested the Medical Council of India for enhancement of undergraduate medical seats at Mysore, Hubballi and Hassan Medical Colleges (MCI) a few months ago saying these colleges had been established long back and are doing well academically.

Further, the newly set up medical college on the premises of Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bengaluru will be functional from the 2019-20 academic year. The college has been permitted intake of 150 seats.

Confirming the request, a top official source from the department said, “As these colleges meet all the norms laid down by the MCI, we have sought enhancement of 100 seats at each of these colleges.”

Currently, these colleges already have an intake of 150 students and the department had requested for 100 seats more. Following the request, the committee constituted by the Governing Council of the MCI is conducting an inspection which is expected to get over in a week or two. Upon completion of the enquiry, the department will get clarity on the status of seats by the end of May or first week of June.

On the new medical college set up on 138 acres of land at Bowring hospital, the state government had spent Rs 197 crore. This will be the second government medical college in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, the recent decision of the Governing Council to increase the number of undergraduate medical seats has come as a boon to the state. Giving details to DH, Dr P G Girish, director, Department of Medical Education said, “This year, we are hoping to get approval from the central agencies for the enhancement of seats. As the Bangalore Medical College already has an intake of 250 students, we did not request for any more at BMC. However, at Hubballi, Mysore and Hassan colleges we could have more seats.”

“Some of the newly set up government medical colleges are not meeting criteria laid down by the MCI and may require some time to improve the infrastructure. Hence, we have not sought more seats at the newly set up colleges.”