The state is all set to get four more new government medical colleges for the next academic year.
Following the announcement by the Union government for setting up of 75 new medical colleges across the country, Karnataka had submitted a proposal for six new government medical colleges.
The Centre, however, has given its approval in-principle for opening four colleges in as many districts, and directed the state to send a detailed final proposal.
As per the information available from the Department of Medical Education, Chikkamagaluru, Chikkaballapur, Haveri and Yadgir are likely to get new government medical colleges.
The two more districts proposed by the state government which were not considered by union government are Chitradurga and Bagalkot. According to officials of the department, “Union government selected the districts where there are no medical colleges. This is why the other two districts were dropped as they have private medical colleges.”
The state government has started groundwork to submit a final report to the Union government. An expert committee constituted by the Department of Medical Education has started visiting the districts. On Friday, the committee visited Chikkamagaluru and inspected the infrastructure available in the district.
Speaking to DH, Dr P G Girish, Director, Department of Medical Education, said, “Our plan is to upgrade the district hospitals and creating infrastructure for colleges, utilising the funds provided for setting up new medical colleges.”
District in-charge Minister of Chikkamagaluru, C T Ravi, said, “Government medical college for our district was on cards for several years. We are confident that the medical college will start functioning in the district from the academic year 2020-21.”