KIMS adds PG diploma seats to MD and MS programmes

Hubballi: In what is likely to enthuse students of medical courses in Karnataka, the prestigious Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hubballi has increased the number of seats for its postgraduate programmes – doctor of medicine (MD) and master of surgery (MS) – from 120 to 168. This is being achieved by converting the 48 seats currently offered for postgraduate diploma courses into a corresponding number of seats for MD and MS.
KIMS doctors said that the move was in keeping with directions issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to surrender the PG diploma seats so as to increase the intake for the postgraduate programmes. KIMS subsequently write to the central government seeking conversion of the 48 seats for the academic year 2020-21. The original plan was to hike the number of seats for MD and MS for the 2019-20 academic year, but this could not be achieved owing to technical reasons, said a KIMS doctor.
KIMS director Dr Ramlingappa Antartani told TOI, “This is good news for medical students. KIMS is North Karnataka’s most prestigious medical institute, and we will be accommodating more students to the three-year PG programmes from this academic year.”
The 48 PG diploma seats now defunct were offered in anaesthesia, ENT, dermatology, paediatrics, clinical pathology, ophthalmology, and gynaecology and obstetrics, he added. “Very few official procedures need to be followed to formally complete this procedure. We will have to inform our affiliate university about the increased intake for our PG programmes before we go ahead with the admissions,” Dr Antartani said.
Hailing MCI’s move to increase intake for three-year PG programmes, associate professor in plastic surgery at KIMS Dr SS Shirol said, “This will certainly multiply the number of opportunities for medical professionals. A three-year PG course adds more weight to one’s resume than a two-year diploma.”
On the advantages of the PG degrees, Dr Shirol said that students delved deeper into the subject they were spcialising in.
Specialisation
No. of PG seats (prior to revision)
No. of PG seats (following revision)
Anaesthesia
9
15
ENT
5
9
Dermatology
2
4
Paediatrics
9
11
Obstetrics and gynaecology
8
16
Orthopaedics
6
14
Opthalmology
4
10
Source: Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi