National Medical Commission OKs 3 medical colleges in Karnataka

BENGALURU: After reverses in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar suffered yet another setback with the National Medical Commission (NMC) not giving permission to Karnataka's proposal to set up new medical colleges in his home turf of Kanakapura and Ramanagara from this academic year (2024-25).
Of the five new medical colleges that Karnataka sought approval for, the Centre has cleared only three: BGS Medical College and Hospital in Nagarur, Bengaluru north, with an intake of 150 seats; PES Institute of Health Sciences and Research Centre at Konappana Agrahara in Electronics City with 100 seats; and SR Medical College at Bagalkot with 100 seats.
Intake up by 350 seats
Karnataka was anxiously awaiting the approval for five new medical colleges for this academic year as this would have added 600 more MBBS seats to the state's kitty. However, with the approval coming only for three colleges, Karnataka will get only 350 more seats, according to sources.
Senior officials in the medical education department confirmed to TOI that NMC has approved only three colleges and disapproved proposals with regard to two other colleges - Kanakapura Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) and Ramanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) - citing technical reasons.
With the addition of three new medical colleges, Karnataka now has 73 such institutes with an intake of 12,095 students this academic year. Sources in the department revealed to TOI that the permission for Ramanagara Medical College was withheld due to a scarcity of staff at the 650-bed affiliate hospital.