Union Ministry of Health restores KMC recognition

Bangalore, Oct 1: The Union Ministry of Health (MoH) has restored the recognition of the Karnataka-based Kasturba Medical Colleges, which had been derecognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI), till 2013.

However, the Ministry had pruned the intake of the two colleges by half asking the management to admit only 100 students in its Mangalore College and 150 at its Manipal campus instead of the earlier allotted 250 seats each.

Speaking to newspersons here today, Dr H S Ballal, Pro Chancellor of the Manipal University, which runs the two prestigious medical colleges, said the letter from MoH restoring the recognition till 2013 was received by the university on Tuesday, Sep 30.

He said the reduction in intake of the capacity was arbitrary with no reasons provided for the step.

The admission process of KMC Colleges in Manipal and Mangalore had been completed on June 18 and they had admitted 500 students.

''Now, at stake is the future of 250 undergraduate students -- amongst India's brightest and best students. Also at stake is KMC, which is among the top five of the 285 medical colleges in the country. We have been singled out for no fault of ours and this is an unfair approach,'' Dr Ballal alleged.

The Pro Chancellor said he was confident the Union Government would take cognisance of the issues in entirety and support the KMC in its endeavour to remain a world class educational institution.

The MCI had derecognised the KMC last year citing lack of infrastrtucture, teaching staff and clinical facilities.

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