Karnataka gets 450 medical seats, introduces 15% NRI quota in state colleges

Karnataka has been allocated an additional 450 MBBS seats by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for 2025-26, meeting a long-standing demand to boost medical capacity in Karnataka.

Medical Education Minister, Sharan Prakash R Patil, said on Saturday that Karnataka is doing it for the first time and introducing a 15 per cent quota for NRIs in government medical colleges. A fixed fee of Rs 25 lakh has been fixed for each NRI seat.

"This will make government medical colleges financially more independent compared to state grants," states Sharan Prakash Patil.

The 450 additional seats have been divided in equal numbers across Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Chikkaballapura, Hassan, Raichur, and Vijayanagara government colleges, with each college getting 50 seats. Even the medical college of Mooru Savita Mutt in Hubballi has been given 50 seats.

With this, Karnataka's MBBS seats have increased to 9,663 from 9,263.

Earlier this year, NMC chairman Abhijit Chandrakant Seth had announced making 8,000 medical seats available in India. After making the announcement, Patil met officials in New Delhi personally to present Karnataka's case for more seats.

KARNATAKA TO HOST SKILL SUMMIT

In addition, Sharan Prakash Patil stated the increasing demand for medical education yearly has made it impossible for numerous worthy students to meet the exorbitant fees of private colleges. According to him, the government had sought an increase in seats and welcomed the fact that the plea had been accepted.

Patil also said a Skill Summit, similar to the Bengaluru Tech Summit, will be conducted in November. There will be a job fair held in Mysuru subsequent to the Dasara celebrations, with applications to open soon. The poster for the job fair was launched by the minister at the event.

A Nursing Summit in October is planned, followed by an international roadshow to market the job fair.