BENGALURU, 27 JUNE

The State has requested the National Medical Commission to approve 508 supernumerary MBBS 15 seats in 22 government medical colleges in the State from the academic year 2025-26 onwards. The State government approached the Centre to introduce a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota in government medical colleges. Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil said despite budgetary allocations and various fees, Karnataka's autonomous medical institutions face funding shortages.

Additional funds are essential for maintaining and enhancing the quality of education, infrastructure, and medical equipment, as well as handling patient loads and improving faculty strength and research capabilities an annual fee of Rs 25 lakh per NRI student is proposed, expected to generate Rs 127 crore in the first year and Rs 571.5 crore from the fifth year onwards. The Medical Education Minister said that creating an NRI quota within the existing annual intake is not feasible, as it would reduce seats available for local students and potentially lead to protests.

Patil said that Karnataka's veterinary, agriculture, and horticulture universities already have a 15 per cent NRI quota, which helps these institutions to provide better facilities and education through higher fees collected from NRI students. Patil justified the importance of having an NRI quota in colleges by citing UGC guidelines and the National Education Policy 2020, which emphasises the intake of international students for global outreach.  The 22 government medical colleges under the Department of Medical Education currently have an intake capacity of 3,450 seats for the 2023-24 academic year. Of these, 85 per cent (2,929 seats) are reserved for Karnataka students, and 15 per cent (521 seats) are under the All India Quota. Salar News