Medical Education Minister S.A. Ramdass on Friday said that new government medical colleges would be established in Tumkur, Kodagu, Koppal, Chitradurga, Chickballapur and Chamarajanagar districts.
Speaking to presspersons, the Minister said that these districts and Gadag, Yadgir and Uttara Kannada districts and K.R. Nagar Cooperative Sugar Factory in Mysore district had applied for starting medical colleges. As per the Medical Council of India norms, those applicants with 300-bed hospital and 25 acres of land for establishing a college would get priority.
In hilly areas, those with a hospital in a 10-acre plot and another piece of land measuring 10 acres in a nearby area could also apply for a college. In view of the Union government’s plan to have more medical colleges in the next five years commensurate with the population and availability of doctors, the State government had decided to accept applications for setting up these colleges.
The Minister said a team from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences would inspect the sites where the proposed colleges were supposed to come up.
He said the government would write to the Centre agreeing to its direction for raising the number of beds in a hospital attached to the college to 400 from 250. As of now, 10 government medical colleges will have 250 seats each in Bangalore Medical College, Mangalore Medical College and Karnataka Institute of Medical Science, Hubli, 150 each in Belgaum, Raichur, Hassan, Mandya, Shimoga and Bidar and 200 in Bellary for 2013-14.
Mr. Ramdas said there was a proposal to start postgraduate courses in six colleges at Belgaum, Mandya, Shimoga, Hassan, Bidar and Raichur. Arrangements had been made to recruit 2,500 lecturers and other technical staff, nurses and paramedics and infrastructure would be created in due course.
He said that those candidates, who were selected on the All India merit would be posted to north Indian and northeastern states for one year as part of the Union government’s plan for serving the people in these States which did not enough doctors. Applications for starting medical colleges had come from nine organisations and six were pending before the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.
Asked whether he approved the appointment of Bangalore University Vice Chancellor N. Prabhu Dev as Chairman of the State Health Commission, Mr. Ramdas said that he was not opposed to the setting up the commission, but it should work under his Department, so that there would be no parallel power centres. He said he was yet to see file on the appointment.
