By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The state government plans to set aside 15 per cent of MBBS seats from the existing seats in government medical colleges, to accommodate students under Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota.

On Tuesday, Medical Education minister D K Shivakumar made a statement in the assembly hinting at allowing NRI quota seats even in government medical colleges. According to department sources, the quota will be 15per cent, which comes to 20 to 22 seats in each college. Currently, each government college is allowed to admit over 150 students, and in the 16 government medical colleges in the state, this adds to 2,200 medical seats.

Furthermore, officials said that an expert committee will be formed to take a final decision and based on the recommendation of the committee, the final quota for NRI students in government medical colleges will be fixed.

This decision has come in opposition from experts. Dr K S Ravindranath, former vice-chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, said, “This is really not a good move. If the government is getting permission from the authorities concerned and introducing extra seats to accommodate NRI students, then that cannot be objected to. But taking away seats available for meritorious students from the state is unfair to them.”

The government has not yet fixed the fee to be charged for NRI seats. According to officials, even the fee will be decided by the expert committee. Reacting to it, Dr Girish, Director of the State Medical Education Department said, “We are writing to the authorities concerned seeking additional seats to make this up. And there is a need to accommodate NRI students at government colleges to mobilise funds for maintenance, infrastructure and to address other issues at government colleges.”

Meanwhile, the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad issued a statement warning the government of staging an agitation across the state if it goes ahead with the plan.