BANGALORE: The Government is planning to start a medical college in Bangalore in addition to the Government-run Bangalore Medical College. The college will come up on a 70-acre plot on Magadi Road.

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy told presspersons here on Wednesday that the objective was to help poor and meritorious students keen on pursuing a career in medicine. Earlier, he held a meeting on the progress of construction work on new government medical colleges in various districts.

The preliminary cost of the proposed medical college was put at Rs. 100 crore. The college would come up at Beggars' Colony on Magadi Road.

The colony would be shifted, he said.

Although 25 acres was sufficient for the college as per the norms of the Medical Council of India, the Government would acquire 70 acres for the new college, which would be affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, he said.

Asked about the reasons for starting one more medical college in Bangalore, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the city had all the require infrastructure such as hospitals and staff.

The plan to establish another government medical college in Bangalore should not be misconstrued as a lack of concern for rural areas.

The meeting in which Minister for Medical Education V.S. Acharya and Minister for Health and Family Welfare R. Ashok participated, also discussed the possibility of establishing 1,000-bed hospitals in all district headquarters.

It discussed the viability of starting government medical colleges with private participation in all districts.

About the commitment to establish new medical colleges in the State, the Chief Minister said the Government wanted to start four of them in Mandya, Hassan, Shimoga and Belgaum this year. But the Medical Council of India had allowed the Government to open only two colleges, in Belgaum and Mandya, this year. In that context, the Government approached the Supreme Court seeking its directions to the council to allow it to establish the colleges in Hassan and Shimoga.

The petition would come up for hearing on August 20.

He said he had called for a comprehensive report on the disbursement of the reward to Special Task Force.

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