Free MBBS education? This Upcoming Medical College has announced to offer 100 MBBS seats for no fee

Chikkaballapur: Bringing good news to the medical aspirants in Karnataka, the newly set up Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research is all prepared to offer 100 MBBS seats free of cost from 2023-2024. As no fees will be collected from all 100 students, they will have to agree to serve for five years in the college hospital after their graduation.

The medical college, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 has already got the permission from the National Medical Commission (NMC) on March 10, 2023 to admit MBBS students in 100 seats from this academic year.

Already as a prelude to the establishment of the medical college, a 350-bed Sri Sathya Sai Sarala Memorial Hospital had been set up inside the campus a few years ago and the hospital has been providing free treatment to needy patients.

The medical college is located at Sathya Sai Village near Muddenahalli, which is around 70 km away from Bengaluru. After the Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of the college in last April, the college has been constructed in less than a year with a cost of Rs 350 crore. It is affiliated to a private university, Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence.

Also Read: NMC nod to 100 MBBS seats at GMC Chikkaballapur in Karnataka

Confirming that the college will provide free medical education, the chief liaison officer Govinda Reddy told the Times of India, "The college will have 50 of its seats filled under the government quota and the remaining 50 will be under the private/management quota. No fees will be collected from all 100 students. They will have to agree to serve for five years in the college hospital after their graduation."

He further mentioned that books, study material, uniform, and hostel facilities will be provided to the students of the college free of cost by Prashanthi Balamandira Trust, which runs the college. The admissions in both government and management quota seats will be monitored by Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), he added.

KEA is the nodal authority to monitor the MBBS admissions and fee collections in all the medical institutes in the State of Karnataka. While commenting on the matter, Ramya S, the executive director of KEA told the daily, "Our fee collection depends on the fee structure and seat matrix given by the government. If the college proposes to the government that it will give its seats free of cost, and the latter writes to us to allot the seats of this particular institution free of cost, we will not collect the fee at all."

Sources informed the daily that while laying the foundation stone for the medical college, the home minister had expressed his hope that the college would start functioning from 2023-2024 and the authorities worked over time in order to ensure that the academic activities commence from August.

Already the trust has appointed teaching facilities and they have been discharging their duties at the hospital which will be used as a clinical facility for the students.

Also Read: Nalbari Medical College and Hospital bags NMC nod for 100 MBBS seats