BENGALURU: Despite facing criticism from the Medical Council of India (MCI) over the state of some of the existing government medical colleges in the state, the government is planning to set up another medical college at Kanakapura. The proposal has been cleared in the recent cabinet meeting, and the finance department has agreed to release Rs 90 crore in the first phase.
The existing colleges themselves are lack proper facilities like clinical and laboratory equipment and a shortage of staff. The MCI had highlighted these shortcomings last year and had also denied permission to admit students at the Koppal Institute of Medical Sciences.
Speaking about it, former vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) said, “Instead of setting up a new college, the government should have strengthened the existing medical colleges. The Rs 90 crore released for the new college could have been given to colleges set up post-2016-17.”
Another objection raised by the experts is the already planned medical college at Ramanagara. “The distance between Ramanagara and Kanakapura is hardly 35 km and there is already a plan to construct a medical college along with a hospital at Ramanagara. Two medical colleges are not needed in one rural district,” said a senior official of RGUHS. However, officials from the state department of medical education said that the new college will be functional only from 2020.
BOWRING INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
During the 2017-18 academic year, the state government announced that it will open a medical college under Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospitals in Bengaluru. According to officials from the medical education department, admissions at the college will be open from the 2019-20 academic year.