The Karnataka government has allocated Rs. 2,177 crore for a slew of initiatives in the area of medical education. These include the construction of a 1,000 bedded additional ward in the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. The move is expected to give a much-needed exposure to medical students for internship and internal practicals.
In order to provide comprehensive medical training, the government is gearing up to build hospitals in medical colleges of Gadag, Koppal and Chamarajanagar and will spend Rs.100 crore each. For this, a grant of Rs. 90 crore will be provided during 2018-19 Budget where it has set aside Rs. 2,177 crore for medical education alone. On the heart care front, the government committed to provide cardiovascular treatment facility at a cost of Rs. 7.81 crore at the Shimoga Super Speciality Hospital. A Cathlab facility will be established at Bidar Medical Sciences Institute and Gadag Medical Sciences Institute at an estimated cost of Rs. 15 crore each.
For oncology, it will establish a PET CT Scan facility at a cost of Rs. 15 crore at the Kidwai Cancer Institute, Bengaluru. A cancer treatment unit will also be established at an estimated cost of Rs. 15 crore each in Hassan, Mysuru and Karwar.
A new building will be constructed at Nursing College, Mysuru at a cost of Rs. 30 crore, stated Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. A Burns Ward will be set up at the Kalaburgi Medical College with the grants from Hyderabad-Karnataka Development Region. The facilities in the nursing schools and colleges coming under the medical education department will be upgraded at an estimated cost of Rs. 30 crore.
Some of the accomplishments in the last five years included increase in the number of MBBS seats and post-graduate seats in medical education. During the last five years, as a result, 1,400 new graduate medical seats and 213 post-graduate seats have been added. 2,750 number of undergraduate medical seats and 643 number of post graduate medical seats are available in the autonomous medical colleges under the medical education department.
In the last 5 years, the government incurred an expenditure of Rs. 1,488 crore to improve the infrastructure which included installing of latest equipments in teaching hospitals, modernisation of operation theaters and establishment of trauma care facility.
In order to make cardiology care accessible, two units of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (JIC) were operational at Kalaburgi and Mysuru at a cost of Rs. 225 crore. Further JIC with 1,150 bed capacity is now the largest cardiovascular care provider in the country. Last year, it performed 35,000 Cathlab processes and 9,250 patients underwent stents implants creating a national record. In addition, the Institute created a world record in Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasti Surgery. It has treated 25 lakh cardiovascular patients which is an increase of 400% over its performance in 2013-14. It is also the first government cardiac hospital to receive the NABH accreditation.