Karnataka students demand for more domicile seats for medical courses

Bengaluru: Upholding their concern on state students losing out on medical seats to outstation students with the allotments made through the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), a group of junior doctors, medical students and representatives from Kannada organisations held a protest at the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) centre at Malleswaram on Monday.

“The decision of KEA to call for applications for government seats from candidates across the country is disturbing, as most of our students have lost their chance of studying in their own region,” said Dr Bharath Kumar D., president of the Karnataka Medical Students and Youth Doctors’ Association (KMSYDA).

“With outstation students already having seats reserved in the all-India, management and NRI categories, students from Karnataka should get prominence,” demanded the protesters.

KMSYDA, along with medical aspirants and their parents, held protests at Freedom Park last week asking the authorities set right the anomaly. Considering the demand, Minister for Medical Education Sharan Prakash Patil had said that the state has decided to raise the share of seats available for domicile students from 30% to 50%. He said that the seats would be made available to outstation students in the absence of domicile students showing up.

“The 17% hike in priority given to domicile students for medical admission through the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMEDK) in the state is a welcome decision. The government should now hold all seats for domicile students from next year irrespective of the entrance test,” said Dr Kumar.

Karnataka being the state with the most number of medical and dental seats in the country, a large number of outstation students had applied and taken part in the allotment process hosted by KEA in the state this year.