Bengaluru: The state govt has decided to submit a proposal to the National Medical Commission (NMC) seeking permission to open two new govt medical colleges in Ramanagara (Bengaluru South district) and Bagalkot this year. However, it will not submit a proposal for a medical college in Kanakapura for now.This is not the first time the govt has sought approval for a medical college in Ramanagara. Proposals to establish govt medical colleges in Ramanagara and Kanakapura were submitted in 2023–24, 2024–25 and 2025–26, but were rejected on all three occasions by the NMC, citing inadequate infrastructure and shortage of faculty.
Medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil said conditions in Ramanagara have improved significantly this year. “It has been decided to submit proposals for medical colleges in Ramanagara and Bagalkot. About 50% of the construction work on the new campus of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in Ramanagara has been completed, and the remaining work will be finished in six to seven months. In addition, there is a district hospital with a capacity of around 300 beds, which meets the requirements for starting a medical college,” he said. In Bagalkot, a tender has already been floated for setting up a medical college at an estimated cost of Rs 450 crore.Explaining the decision to defer the Kanakapura proposal, the minister said there was a shortage of hospital infrastructure. “As per NMC norms, a minimum 220-bedded hospital is required to permit 50 seats. We have now floated a tender worth Rs 550 crore to construct a medical college and hospital in Kanakapura,” he said. Addressing the faculty shortage, the state govt is also taking up contractual recruitment, the minister added, though he noted that the high court has issued a stay on new recruitment related to internal reservation. The govt has also directed all eligible medical colleges in the state to apply for enhancement of seats for the next academic year. Last year, the NMC approved an additional 450 undergraduate and 421 postgraduate medical seats across Karnataka. Meanwhile, the govt has decided to put on hold the proposed public-private partnership (PPP) model medical college in Vijayapura. “The previous govt had planned eight PPP medical colleges and even submitted project reports for locations including Vijayapura and Kolar. However, there was public opposition to the model, and we have therefore decided to keep it on hold,” the minister said. He added that the govt’s focus remained on achieving universal health care coverage by addressing infrastructure gaps across the state.
