TRIVANDRUM, 24 June — Five new medical colleges in the pipeline means good news for Kerala — especially for non-resident Keralites (NRKs) who will get priority for 50 new seats.
The state has six medical colleges with 800 seats altogether. Only 22 of these are reserved for NRKs.
The new five private colleges waiting for a nod from the Medical Council of India (MCUI) are the Amritha Institute of Medical Science, Cochin, Pushpagiri Medical College, Thiruvalla, Medical Mission Hospital, Kolencherry, Dr. Somerwell Memorial CSI Medical College Hospital, Trivandrum and the Imam Rafi Muslim Educational Charitable Trust, Thrissur.
Each plans to start with 100 seats, of which 50 percent would be filled on merit. The rest would be reserved for different categories of students, including 10 percent for NRKs.
To qualify for this 10 percent, an applicant has to be at least 17 and related to an NRK. He or she can be a close relative like a child or sibling or even a first cousin or nephew/niece.
If there aren’t enough such applicants, the colleges will consider such kin of foreign citizens of Kerala origin and in their absence, the kin of non-resident, non-Keralite Indians.
The MCI has visited the proposed five colleges twice. Its permission is expected after a third visit soon.
An official of the Dr. Somerwell Memorial CSI Medical College Hospital said they were ready to start classes and were only waiting for the MCI approval.
“Only the NRK seats are vacant, the rest has been filled,” he added.
For the new pay seats, a candidate has to pay $60,000 or its equivalent in Indian currency at the time of admission by demand draft made out to the commissioner for entrance examinations and payable at Trivandrum.
An NRK applicant has to provide a certificate to prove he is an Indian citizen.
The applicant also has to provide other documents like the original mark sheet of the qualifying examination, an age certificate and a declaration from an NRK establishing their relationship.