The number of MBBS seats in Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI), one of the oldest colleges in the country which is in the forefront of COVID-19 fight, is expected to go up by 100 in June next year with the institute seeking increase in intake of seats from 150 to 250 to add up more medical professionals.

In view of MMCRI’s proposal, a delegation from the National Medical Commission (NMC) inspected the institute recently and reviewed its infrastructure.

In the hope of getting a nod from the NMC for increasing the intake, the MMCRI has taken up various works, including construction of two new boys and girls hostels besides a lecture complex with each classroom accommodating 300 students and an examination hall accommodating 500 students.

“We are confident of getting the NMC nod as whatever is required for increasing the intake is being done. The new hostels, lecture halls and other necessary infrastructure is being developed. Some facilities will be ready by December-end and a few others in January and by April before the next year’s admissions commence,” said MMCRI Dean and Director C.P. Nanjaraj.

He told Rashtra News that the two hostels with 150 rooms each are being constructed on the campus of PKTB Hospital on KRS Road. The ground plus five floor buildings can accommodate 900 students.

The PG students and interns of MMCRI will be moved to the old hostels located in the city and all MBBS students will be accommodated in the new hostels once they are ready. “We need junior doctors for handling emergencies and therefore they will get accommodation in hostels within the city,” he said.

Dr. Nanjaraj said the lecture complex is coming up at the old exhibition building next near MMCRI main building. Three classrooms that can each accommodate 300 students and an examination hall that can accommodate 500 students are being developed to improve the chances of getting the nod for increasing the MBBS seats’ intake. The UG and PG libraries are also coming up on the same campus, he added.

The dean said the boy’s hostel is expected to be ready in January next year while the lecture hall would be ready for use in December.

The erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) did not increase the seat intake. A reason for this was that the MMCRI lacked bigger classrooms that could accommodate 250 students if the permission was granted. Another reason was that the number of outpatients treated at K.R. Hospital, the teaching hospital of MMCRI, was less than 3,000 daily.

The OPD numbers were actually around 3,000 previously but the number dropped after the Jayadeva Hospital moved to its new campus on KRS Road from K.R. Hospital premises. The Jayadeva outpatients were added to the hospitals’ outpatients’ list.

The rooms in the new hostels come with attached restrooms, with better facilities for students. And each room can comfortably accommodate three students. There is no provision for two-sharing. Either it is single or three-sharing. In these hostels, the rooms come with three-sharing accommodation.

The guidelines for increasing the MBBS seats had been revised with the coming up of the NMC and the MMCRI is hoping to get the approval for 250 intake since the hospitals attached to the college were attending to nearly 2,300 outpatients daily.