Karnataka Minister Patil meets Union health minister Nadda, reiterates demand for AIIMS in Raichur

New Delhi [India], August 2 (ANI):Karnataka Medical Education, Skill Development and Livelihood Minister Sharan Prakash Patil met Union Health Minister JP Nadda here on Friday and urged him to sanction AIIMS at Raichur at the earliest.

During the meeting, the minister also asked the Centre to sanction 15% NRI quota in the state-run medical colleges.

This is the second visit by Patil to the capital within six months, seeking to establish AIIMS and sanction NRI quota.

Emerging out of the meeting, Patil said the demand for AIIMS in Raichur is long pending and only a couple of states, including Karnataka, in the country have not been given the premier institution.

“I explained to the Union Health Minister the developmental revolution in backward Kalyana Karnataka region that will trigger following the setting up of AIIMS. Karnataka is hopeful that the Centre will announce the establishment of AIIMS at Raichur before the closure of the current parliament session,” Patil added.

Seeking to start the NRI quota in medical colleges, Patil requested that Nadda sanction supernumerary MBBS seats in government autonomous medical colleges under the Department of Medical Education from the academic year 2025-26 onwards.

The minister told the Centre to sanction a 15% NRI quota by creating 508 additional supernumerary MBBS seats for admissions in 22 government medical colleges in the state.

Patil had met the Chairman of the National Medical Commission (NMC) last month and submitted the letter in this regard. Justifying the proposal of supernumerary MBBS seats, the minister maintained that creating NRI quota within the available annual intake of seats is not feasible and expressed apprehension that disturbing the existing intake may trigger protests from students and parents.

There are 22 government medical colleges under the Department of Medical Education that had intake capacity of 3,450 seats for the year 2023-24, out of which 85% (2929 seats) were Karnataka quota and 521, ie 15%, were All India Quota.