What ails pre-clinical PG courses in Karnataka?

PG medical pre-clinical courses in Karnataka face low enrollment due to lack of job prospects, prompting fee waivers and job guarantees.

There were zero admissions for the post graduate (PG) medical pre-clinical courses in Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre (VIMS), Bengaluru, including in anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, forensic medicine, microbiology and pharmacology, till the second round of PG-NEET counselling.

The institute then informed the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), the counselling authority in the State, that it would waive the tuition fees for candidates opting for these courses, after which, all the pharmacology seats were filled during the subsequent round of counselling, said Kalpaja D.A., Chairperson of the Institute.

This is the situation of PG medical pre-clinical courses in Karnataka, as candidates are hesitant to take them up due to a lack of job opportunities. Even in government medical colleges, only 15% to 20% of the seats in these courses are filled. The situation is far worse in private medical colleges, which have resorted to fee reduction, free hostel facility, stipend as per government guidelines, and job guarantee with good salary as promises to attract students towards pre-clinical and para-clinical courses.

Like VIMS, Oxford Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre has also waived the tuition fees, while BGS Institute of Medical Sciences has promised jobs to candidates immediately after completing the courses.

“For PG medical courses, students like to join clinical courses due to job prospects. As a result, despite measures such as fee reduction, free hostel facility and stipend, the enrollment has been poor. It is very difficult to find candidates for courses like anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, forensic medicine, and microbiology. Therefore, many seats in PG medical courses have remained vacant this year as well. The KEA has announced it will conduct a special stray vacancy round for the second time. We hope all the vacant seats will be filled,” Kalpaja explained.

“This time, several private medical colleges have announced many facilities, including fee reduction and free hostel facility and others to attract students towards pre-clinical and para-clinical courses. There is no other way to attract students,” said M.K. Ramesh, former Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

A large number of postgraduate medical seats remained vacant in the State this year due to the lack of students opting for pre-clinical courses. A total of 3,864 postgraduate medical seats were available in the State for 2024-25. Out of these, 3,379 seats have been filled, and 485 seats remain vacant. Out of these, 471 are PG medical courses, while the remaining 14 are Diplomate of National Board (DNB) courses for in-service doctors.