306 PG medical seats went vacant in 2018 in Karnataka, reveals KEA Data

From 2014 to 2018, at least 2,027 PG medical seats were left unfilled.

Bengaluru: Exorbitant fee structure has always been an issue for medical students; which many times leave the medical colleges' witnessing condemnation. At the same time, it becomes an important matter for policymakers when a whopping percentage of medical seats go vacant only primarily to the high fee of medical course

As revealed in recent data by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), sourced through the Department of Medical Education; from 2014 to 2018, at least 2,027 PG medical seats were left unfilled.306 seats went vacant in 2018, the data showed. This however was a much relief over the figures of 2017 when as many as 1,129 seats remained unfulfilled

The main reasons cited for vacant seats include hefty fee of the clinical courses making them unaffordable for many at private medical colleges. Another reason cited included the falling demand of many non-clinical specialisations.

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The New Indian Express Summarises the KEA data as follows

Hefty fees which reportedly ranges from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore for PG medical courses in the state; have been blamed for the vacancy of these much medical seats in the past years.

A senior principal of a private medical college in the city told TNIE, "We cannot call it a fee, it is the rate. I can say the rates are high for PG courses which cannot be paid even by people who are well off in many cases."

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It has also been claimed that some speciality courses are not interesting to medicos anymore.

Talking about the demand of the subjects, Registrar of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Dr MK Ramesh said, "It is not that demand is going down for all the subjects. A few subjects are not in demand."

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Specialisations like radiology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, dermatology, anaesthesia, gynaecology, general surgery are still in demand and cost up to Rs 10 crore. However, specialisation like anatomy have no demand, experts informed the daily.

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