The National Medical Commission (NMC) has approved four new undergraduate medical colleges for Karnataka, including Ramanagara Institute of Medical Sciences at Ramanagara, for the academic year of 2024-25 with 150 seats each.
The other three colleges are Kanakapura Institute of Medical Sciences at Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, BGS Medical College and Hospital at Nagarur, Bengaluru North, and PES University Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Konappana Agrahara, Electronics City, Bengaluru.
The State presently has 70 medical colleges in both government and private sector, with a total of 11,745 medical seats available in 2023-24. With NMC’s nod to start four medical colleges this year, Karnataka will add 600 seats to its kitty, taking the total number of medical seats to 12,345.
The State government’s decision to shift the proposed government medical college to Kanakapura, earlier planned on the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science campus at Ramanagara, had kicked up a political row. It had become a prestige issue between Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Eventually, both places have now got a medical college each.