Karnataka government will establish medical colleges under PPP model: Sudhakar

Bengaluru: To meet the growing demand for doctors, the State government is willing to establish more medical colleges in Public-Private Partnership (PPP), said Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K.Sudhakar on Tuesday.

Speaking at the inauguration of the new building of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre at Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, Mr Sudhakar said that establishing a medical college costs Rs 600-700 crore. "If it is built in the PPP model, it reduces the burden on the State exchequer and also helps in providing affordable medical education and treatment to the needy. This model is being adopted in Gujarat and the same will be implemented here as well."

"As per WHO guidelines there should be one doctor for 1000 people. But in our country, there is a doctor for every 10-12 thousand people. Therefore, there is a necessity to increase the number of medical colleges. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has added over 157 medical colleges in the last six years. The Centre has a vision to set up 22 AIIMS across the country, one in each State", the minister said. The process of obtaining permission is already in progress and soon there will be an AIIMS functional in the state, he said and promised a new health and medical education policy in the State soon.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences has 150 MBBS seats. According to the reports from Karnataka health department, the government is under process of increasing the bed capacity of district hospitals, providing better infrastructure and constructing hostel facilities where there are no medical colleges.