BENGALURU: The six new government medical colleges announced by the state government in the last budget will not be functional even for the academic year 2018-19. Owing to the lack of infrastructure, the Local Inquiry Committee consisting of experts from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has refused to give permission to start the colleges.
In the annual state budget 2016, seven new medical colleges, including one at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bengaluru were announced. RGUHS sources say out of the seven, only Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital has chances of getting permission.
Dr K S Ravindranath, vice-chancellor of RGUHS said, “As per the information from LIC members, the places where the medical colleges are proposed are not equipped with necessary facilities to run a medical college. We will communicate this to the Department of Medical Education.”
“Building construction on Bowring hospital premises is on and they have time till June to get approval. We will send another team after the construction,” the V-C added.
However, even if the construction work is completed in time and the hospital fulfills all criteria, courses will start only in the 2018-19 academic year. As per the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms, an institute should apply at least two years beforehand to start a medical college.
Meanwhile, officials of the medical education department are hoping to get funds allocated for setting up these medical colleges at least in the 2017 budget. A senior official told Express: “Though the colleges were announced last year, no fund has been allocated yet. We expect funds to be allocated in this year’s budget.”