The Centre had approved Karnataka’s proposal to enhance MBBS seats in the government-run medical colleges by 500 and also grant an additional 350 post-graduate seats in them, Medical Education Minister S A Ramadass said today.
Ramadass, back from attending a two-day conference of health and medical education ministers in Hyderabad which concluded yesterday, said as a result the number of MBBS seats in the 10 government medical colleges would go up to 1,600 from the present 1,100.
He said, 100 PG seats have been allotted for the first time to the six government medical colleges — Mandya, Belgaum, Hassan, Shimoga, Raichur and Bida — and another 250 in other four medical colleges, raising the number of PG seats to 694 in the state.
Ramadass said Karnataka’s suggestion to conduct exam in MBBS after four-and-half-years and then undergo a mandatory one-year internship in rural areas was accepted by the Centre, which would now amend the Medical Council of India curriculum in this regard to be applicable to the entire country.
The Union government has agreed to upgrade the SDS Sanatorium and Chest Diseases Hospital here into a national institute, for which the state would prepare a project report and would have to provide a seed money of 10 per cent,he said.
Ramadass said Kolar and Shimoga in Karnataka are among the 100 districts in the country where diabetic patients could take medical costs and cancer patients go in for operation free of cost, including in the private hospitals, in the sense the cost would be borne by the Central Government.
“In the 12th (five-year) plan, all medical colleges will start mental health courses. The Centre would give a grant of Rs 1.5 crore each for these medical colleges,” he said.
The minister said a meeting of standing committee on health of city corportions, municipalities and zilla panchayats would be convened shortly to discuss steps to control spread of communicable diseases such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya and filaria.