Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil has said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting of the Association of the Private Medical Colleges in the State in Bangalore on Wednesday to finalise the modalities for admissions to postgraduate courses in medical colleges as per Supreme Court directions.
Talking to presspersons here during his maiden visit to his native district on Tuesday after being inducted as Minister, Dr. Patil said that the meeting would discuss and decide the fee structure and seat sharing formula between the government and the private managements.
“We do not have much time. The Supreme Court, in its order on May 13, said that the last date for admissions will be May 31,” he said.
Dr. Patil said that the government would discuss the modalities for admissions to undergraduate courses in medical colleges and take a decision on the fee structure and seat sharing formula between the government and private managements pending a final decision on admissions to undergraduate courses by the Supreme Court on June 2.
Every year, the government and the private managements have to renew their bi-partite agreement on seat sharing and fee structure.
To a question, Dr. Patil said that it would be difficult to extend reservation benefits under Article 371 (J) of the Constitution in admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medical colleges for students of Hyderabad Karnataka region in this academic year as rules fixing the quantum of reservation for people of the region has not been finalised.
However, reservation in admission to professional colleges as per Article 371 (J) would be ensured next year.
Dr. Patil said that he had discussed the need for hastening the process of framing rules to implement Article 371 (J) providing special status to Hyderabad Karnataka region.
To another question, Dr. Patil said that the State government was, in principle, in favour of establishing government medical colleges in all the district headquarters. His priority would be to fulfil the long-pending demand for establishing a government medical college in Gulbarga and another at Yadgir immediately using the existing infrastructure.
The hospital building with teaching facility was readily available in Gulbarga. In Yadgir, all avenues would be explored to start a medical college at the earliest.
Dr. Patil said that establishing medical colleges at district headquarters would not only mean that more number of meritorious poor students would get an opportunity to study medicine at affordable cost but also medical treatment would be assured for people in hospitals attached to medical colleges. There would not be any shortage of doctors in the district government hospitals.
Cancer centre
Dr. Patil said that the government would extend all help to revive the peripheral cancer centre under the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology and the Rajiv Gandhi OPEC Super Speciality Hospital in Raichur. He had a preliminary discussion with director of the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology M. Vijayakumar on Monday and a decision on reviving the cancer centre would be taken soon.
