The State government is mulling over hiking the fees for medical courses in government medical colleges and making rural service mandatory for students opting for free medical seats, said Medical Education Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
Speaking to presspersons after chairing a review meeting at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here on Saturday, Mr. Shivakumar said the government was spending nearly ₹10 lakh on training each medical student while each student pays a fee of little more than ₹16,000 a year. Of the ₹16,000 fee paid by a student, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, collects ₹9,000. A hike would make these colleges financially independent, he said.
On compulsory rural services for students getting free medical seats, he said “We will look into the Maharashtra model, where doctors will not get their permanent registration number without serving for a certain period of time in rural areas. This will also address the issue of shortage of doctors in rural medical centres.”
During the review meeting at the KIMS, Mr. Shivakumar instructed all government hospitals and medical colleges to videorecord its moveable and non-moveable assets.
A detailed report of equipments purchased and their present condition should be submitted to the government soon, based on which an audit will be held, he said.
