KARNATAKA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, A road to million success stories

Medical was a course I had thought of opting for long back as a middle school kid, so the decision to opt this course was not difficult. MBBS is a nobel course that prepares future doctors and teaches us how important it is to maintain a healthy relationship with the patients. Medical is a career in which a service provider directly interacts with the service taker, an aspect well taught by the present curriculum. The only drawback in this field is competitiveness that is rising every year. The teaching methods do not need much improvement but according to the students, it is important if the emphasis is put more on gaining practical knowledge than theoretical. MBBS is a 5.5 years course in which exam schedule is different in every year based on the duration. Generally, 3 internals are conducted throughout the year with final exam at the end of each year. The difficulty is moderate and ample knowledge is required to pass the exams.

Internship is given for 1.5 years in the hospital in the college campus. The stipend is 30,000 monthly for now, and may increase in the future based on the government guidelines. Internship starts after completion of final year. I have not startedy internship yet, but based on the experience of seniors, the internship provides alot of access to knowledge for the hospital working and experience is unmatched. Though, working hours for internship are long and schedule is hectic.

The students have a lot of areas to explore and job opportunities after completing the course from KIMS. The students prepare for NEET PG exam which is also a competitive exam alike NEET UG for admissions in PG courses. A person can also give applications for Medical officer, fellowships and research programmes after MBBS in same college or outside it. The government of India also provided opportunities for MBBS graduates.I personally have decided to go for MO for a year after graduation, following NEET PG and opting for a suitable specialty to persue.

There is no such increment in the fees as it is a government medical college. The college fees for the first year is nearly 67,000 including security money and various others. But then the fees reduces to 60,000 from second year onwards. As a student from outside Karnataka, studying in a college far away from home does cost me more than my counterparts from the same state. My yearly expenses including college fees, hostel fees, mess fees and travelling fees is nearly 1- 1.5 lakh. There are many scholarships provided here in the college to Economically backward students, reservation students and many for the state students with proper criteria, which I could not get, due to not falling in any of the criterias, so I have a little knowledge about it. The financial aid is provided for disabled students, laptops and library books are also provided for the SC/ST students. The college provides internship for 1.5 year experience in the hospital and the stipend is 30,000 monthly.

The college has many social and cultural activities and festivals that are organised every year including, phoenix which is sports competitions, Kannada Habba with cultural activities and Ganesha festival are celebrated very vibrantly. Though there are limitations for outside Karnataka students in participations. The Students in medical college do no take a lot of interest in such activities but the efforts for it should be improved from the college administration side. The college sports complex is recently being renovated and lacks a lot in sense of being a good sports complex. The college student bodies are a part of NMO.

Hostel facility is a major issue in the college. The girls hostel we are currently accomodated is good and new, but after a year we will be shifted in another hostel totally opposite to this one which has very bad conditions, improper hygiene, under ventilation and cleanliness issues with the mess and food. The hostels are in a dire need of renovation. Menu is proper with Dal, Sambhar, Vegetable, roti, rice, etc. for the meals. Breakfast is provided every morning and snacks are given in the evening. The hostel registration process starts shortly after admission and generally people get rooms and do not need to take rooms outside.

The admissions were purely based on NEET scores and ranks, an exam conducted by NTA yearly for medicine aspirants. The counseling process started shortly after the results for the exams were released and I got this college in my third round from the general category. The admission body here in the college is a little less engaging but they provided as much help as required. The admission process takes a lot of paperwork so it is required to keep all the documents mentioned in the college brochure, provided on the college website prepared beforehand.

The faculty is mostly Post graduates after first year. This makes it better for students to engage and understand in the clinical field. The professors are also well qualified and some are even among the renowned lists in their departments. The faculty to student ratio is well maintained and kept approachable. The college puts a lot of emphasis over the attendance, particularly in the clinical postings so that the students get to perform better as clinicians and practical knowledge is developed. Most of the staff in the departments work more deliberately to provide the best academic knowledge to the students and are very qualified at their jobs.