Autonomous status for Mysore Medical College soon: Acharya 

The 50-year-old medical college will now be called the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. Five major government hospitals in the city — Victoria, Bowring and Lady Curzon, Vani Vilas, Minto Ophthalmic Hospital and the SDS Tuberculosis and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases — are affiliated to BMC.

According to the Minister for Medical Education V.S. Acharya, a government order in this regard would be issued in a couple of days. "But we have granted autonomy to both the colleges. The appointment of director of the two institutes will take some time. Till then, the principals will continue as the directors," he told The Hindu .

He said that autonomy would pave the way for faster recruitment of staff in the colleges, which have a shortage of faculty. Dr. Acharya said that autonomous status would be granted to Mysore Medical College in a few months.

T. Rajeshwari, Principal of Bangalore Medical College, said the institute was one among the top ten medical colleges in the country and autonomy would certainly improve the conditions in the college.

"The autonomous status will help us in bringing in a lot of changes that will help in the development of the institute and things will work faster now. Earlier, there was delay in decision-making for any development work, but that will not happen anymore," she said.

She added that one of the immediate steps would be to recruit additional faculty, as there was a staff crunch in the college. "We have 150 postgraduate and 150 undergraduate seats in the college and we are presently not planning on increasing the number of seats. The focus will be on increasing the staff strength," she said.