BANGALORE: Having got permission to start six medical colleges , the government has now approached the Medical Council of India (MCI) for three more at Bagalkot, Tumkur and Chitradurga, to increase the number of seats.

The six colleges are yet to begin functioning even though the admission process for academic year 2014-2015 is already over. The colleges are in Gulbarga, Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Gadag, Karwar and Kodagu. "Our objective is to have a medical college in every district. Next year, we will seek permission for three more colleges at Chikkaballapur, Haveri and Yadgir,'' medical education minister Sharana Prakash Patil said on Tuesday.

Referring to this year's medical and dental quota, the minister said medical seats are full, while there are some vacant seats in dental courses. "There will be another round of counseling for dental courses,'' he added.

After agreeing to the requests of private college managements not to implement the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, for the current academic year, the government has started a consultation process with stakeholders to execute it from 2015, the next acade mic year. The Act is seen as a solution to end malpractices in admission and fee fixation, discipline professional colleges and plug systemic loopholes. Even the deemed universities, which are refusing to part with their seats, will fall in line once the Act is implemented, the minister said.

As for managements' reservations towards the Act, Patil said: "They fear losing the government quota and an i ndiscriminate fee hike. We are trying to address both issues and help students. Once the Act comes into effect, the fee-fixation committee and admission-monitoring committee will be set up."

