BENGALURU: Around 170 taluk hospitals across the State will be assessed to ascertain whether they are eligible to start eight recently approved PG diploma courses under the National Board of Examinations (NBE), the Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI) said on Thursday.
“Over 70,000 medical students graduate every year and only 40,000 PG seats are available. These diploma courses provide an opportunity to students deprived of PG seats,” said Dr C N Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research.
NBE will formulate rules for eligibility for hospitals and the maximum number of seats will be in obstetrics, gynaecology, anaesthesiology and radiology specialisations, he added. Dr Devi Shetty, chairman of Narayana Health said there are only 40,000 anaesthetists and only 10,500 radiologists for a population of 1.3 billion people. President of ANBAI Dr Alexandar Thomas said many states face a shortage of around 85 per cent of specialists.