Karnataka: Private medical colleges not keen to share seats under the state government quota

Karnataka: Even though the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation has agreed in principal to share seats under the state government quota through CET, if the state government increases the private medical college fee; majority of the private colleges however, are not too keen to agree to the proposed decision.

There was a change in stance by the medical colleges foundation in the state on June 13 after they agreed to offer 85 per cent seats-which is 1500 medical seats to the state government. The offer made by the colleges comes with a rider of hiking the fee. The Karnataka Professional Colleges' Foundation is now demanding a fee of Rs 4 lakh per medical seat per year. The association consists of 12 medical colleges. As implied by some government sources that the change in the stance by the foundation comes after it realized that by providing admissions through NEET they will get less fees.

A representative of a private medical college in the city implied that they are not willing to share the government-quota seats. Also, sharing 85 per cent seats with the state government is not feasible.

Meanwhile, a source in the Medical Education Department said to The Hindu that the government had received official permission for all the 16 government medical colleges and that they were preparing the seat matrix. “But the decision on whether we would announce the matrix only for government medical college seats or wait for the impasse on the government-quota seats to end and release the matrix of both the categories is yet to be decided,” the source said.

As reported by India Today, the rationale behind it being that 'Before NEET, the colleges would get Rs. 60,000 per seat per annum for 700 government-quota seats. The fee for the remaining 800 seats under COMEDK would be Rs. 4.6 lakh per seat. If the government accepts their latest offer, they can get Rs. 4 lakh for each of the 1,500 seats'.

As a result of the prevailing confusion for students there is also a reported delay in announcement of the seat matrix for UG medical courses. This is also because of the lack of clarity on the issue of fixing the fee for private medical colleges admission under the state government quota. As a result of this development, the admission process for UG medical courses is going to be delayed.

In total, 700 medical seats fall under this quota. Out of the 85% seats through Neet (which does not include the NRI quota), half the seats are for the SC/ST and OBC category of students. It will be easier for students under this category to get admissions in around 1,500 medical and 1,600 dental seats offered in the private colleges.