Bengaluru: If all goes well, Bengaluru’s second government medical college being set up on the premises of Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital is all set to become functional from the next academic year. The college that will have an intake of 150 MBBS seats is being constructed at a cost of Rs.197 crore.
Speaking after laying foundation stone for the college on Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah directed Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash R. Patil to obtain all required clearances from the Medical Council of India.
Tenders have been floated and work has been allotted to a Hyderabad-based company. Construction will be completed in 18 months, the chief minister said.
Expressing displeasure over medical graduates’ aversion to rural service, the chief minister said: “It is an irony that students compete hard to study in government medical colleges but do not want to serve in such colleges after graduating. We framed a rule making rural service mandatory but students have obtained a stay on that too.”
The medical college that is coming up on a 13.8 acre plot on the premises of Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital and 3.5 acre land in Hajee Sir Ismail Sait (HSIS) Gosha Hospital will have 13 floors, two basement parking lots to accommodate 200 cars and 150 two-wheelers. It will also house a nursing college, girls’ hostel and nursing quarters.
Health Minister K.R. Ramesh Kumar, who is all set to table the amended Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act in the Belagavi session of the legislature, said a government hospital is synonymous to a temple. “People go to both places when they are in trouble. But there are instances wherein patients are fleeced in private hospitals. We are trying to bring in standards in the health sector to help the poor. We are not against anyone. We are for humanity,” he said.
