Karnataka Minister Orders To Seal Nursing Colleges lacking Basic Amenities

Karnataka- Recently, Karnataka Medical Education, Skill Development and Livelihood Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil issued strict instructions to Director of Medical Education Dr Sujatha Rathore to inspect and seal some nursing colleges in the state.

In Karnataka, some of the nursing colleges have failed to provide basic amenities to the students even after getting all the facilities from the government. In this regard, a meeting was held on Thursday, chaired by Dr Sharan Prakash Patil with members of the nursing college management and officials of the Medical Education Department at Vikas Soudha, Karnataka. Besides, senior officials, including Medical Education Department Principal Secretary Mohammad Mohsin and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Registrar PR Shivprasad, also attended the meeting.

As per the ANI media news report, Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said in the meeting that he had received several complaints about the lack of basic facilities in many nursing colleges. Along with this, Dr Patil expressed his displeasure towards the management of private colleges and also said that the government acted leniently with the management of private colleges, hoping that they would correct their mistakes, but it was of no use.

The minister questioned “Barring a few, most of the colleges lack facilities such as inadequate teaching and non-teaching staff, a lack of library and laboratory facilities, hygiene and other issues. They collect huge fees from students during admission but fail to provide facilities”.

Therefore, he has now instructed the Director of Medical Education Dr. Sujata Rathore to inspect those colleges and seal those colleges. Also, visit those colleges before admission and check whether they are following the government rules and regulations and take strict action against those who violate the norms.

Apart from this, Dr Patil also rejected the demand for a 20 per cent hike in the fees of the nursing college management. On this, he said that while protecting student interests, the fee has been fixed at Rs 10,000 for each student admitted under government quota, Rs 1 lakh under management quota and Rs 1.40 lakh for non-Karnataka students, report ANI.

Meanwhile, the minister suggested the management to make 40 per cent of the seats available under the government quota. There are 35,000 seats available in 611 nursing colleges. The management fills 80 per cent of the seats while 20 per cent of the seats go under the government quota. “If the management provides 40 per cent of the seats under the government quota, then it will greatly help poor students”, Dr Patil requested.

During this, Dr Patil directed the officials to prepare a framework to start the admission process in July instead of September from the current academic year i.e. 2024-25.