*Padma Shri Dr. Prabhakar Kore Takes Hubballi to New Heights*
Padma Shri Dr. Prabhakar Kore Takes Hubballi to New Heights
From a seed of education and healthcare sown in Belagavi to a ₹700-crore medical landmark in Hubballi
M.K.Hegde
Building an institution is certainly an achievement. But transforming the future of an entire region through that institution is a far greater accomplishment.
Four decades ago, a seed of education and healthcare was sown in the soil of Belagavi. Today, that seed has grown into a mighty tree whose shade has extended far beyond Belagavi and now reaches Hubballi.
At the heart of this remarkable expansion stands Padma Shri Dr. Prabhakar B. Kore.
For four decades, Dr. Kore has steered the KLE Society with a vision that goes beyond institutions and infrastructure. Through education, healthcare, research and social service, he has built an ecosystem comprising more than 310 institutions, giving new direction and opportunities to thousands of families.
Having helped put Belagavi on the map of education and healthcare, KLE is now writing a new chapter of service in Hubballi.
The newly established KLE Jagadguru Gangadhar Mahaswamiji Moorusaviramath Medical College (JGMMMC) and the 1,200-bed KLE Hospital and Medical Research Centre (KLE HMRC) at Gabbur stand as a powerful testament to this vision.
Built at an investment of around ₹700 crore, spread across 50 acres and comprising more than 30 lakh square feet of built-up area, this massive campus is far more than a collection of buildings.
It represents a new promise for medical education, advanced healthcare and biomedical research in North Karnataka.
From Belagavi to Hubballi
Belagavi today serves not only North Karnataka but also large sections of neighbouring Maharashtra and Goa as an important healthcare destination.
KLE’s contribution to this transformation has been significant.
Along with medical education, Belagavi is home to the 2,400-bed KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, creating an advanced healthcare ecosystem that attracts patients from far and wide.
Now, that experience and vision have found a new home in Hubballi.
KLE, which had already established its educational presence in Hubballi, has now expanded its healthcare footprint as well.
There is perhaps a larger message in this journey: rather than asking what one city has received from another, the more meaningful question is what one city can give to another.
The expansion of KLE from Belagavi to Hubballi reflects a vision of service that transcends geographical boundaries.
A Medical City on Moorusaviramath Land
This dream has taken shape on land generously donated by the Jagadguru of Hubballi’s Moorusaviramath.
Spread across 50 acres, the campus brings together a medical college, teaching hospital, research facilities, modern laboratories, student hostels and other essential infrastructure required for contemporary medical education.
This is not merely a college.
It is a place where doctors are shaped, where patients find hope and where new medical knowledge is created through research.
From 150 to 250 MBBS Seats
The JGMM Medical College received approval from the National Medical Commission in 2021 and began its journey with an annual intake of 150 MBBS students.
Within a few years, the intake was increased to 200. From the academic year 2026–27, it has now been expanded further to 250 MBBS seats.
Around 800 students across five batches are currently pursuing their medical education at the institution.
The institution is also preparing to introduce postgraduate programmes across 20 departments from the next academic year.
In other words, Hubballi is not merely gaining another medical college.
It is gaining the capacity to shape the doctors of tomorrow within the region itself.
1,200 Beds… A Promise of Hope to Thousands
At the heart of the campus stands the 1,200-bed KLE Hospital and Medical Research Centre.
The hospital began its services on January 1, 2025, and has been developed as a multi-speciality and super-speciality tertiary-care teaching hospital.
Modern operation theatres, intensive care units, emergency and trauma care facilities, advanced laboratories, radiology and sophisticated diagnostic services form part of the hospital’s infrastructure.
The hospital offers a wide range of services, including General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Pulmonology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Ophthalmology, Emergency Medicine and ENT.
Super-speciality services including Neurology, Neurosurgery, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Urology and Endocrinology are also available.
Cardiology, Oncology and organ-transplant services are planned as part of the next phase of expansion.
Together, these facilities have the potential to bring advanced tertiary and super-speciality healthcare closer to the people of North Karnataka and neighbouring regions.
A Hospital with Its Doors Open to the Underprivileged
Healthcare is not merely about sophisticated machines, imposing buildings or expensive treatments.
At its heart, healthcare is about humanity.
The Hubballi campus carries forward this important dimension of KLE’s service tradition.
Free health camps, rural healthcare programmes, preventive healthcare initiatives and community-oriented medical activities are being undertaken to reach people beyond the hospital campus.
Economically disadvantaged patients are being provided free or subsidised treatment. Admitted patients are also provided nutritious food free of cost.
The hospital provides treatment under various government health and insurance schemes, including Ayushman Bharat–Arogya Karnataka, enabling eligible beneficiaries to access healthcare according to the applicable scheme provisions.
Because no matter how grand a hospital may be, it becomes a true centre of public service only when its doors remain open to the common man.
Knowledge, Treatment and Research Under One Roof
Research is another important pillar of the Hubballi campus.
Faculty members are receiving competitive research grants, including an ICMR research grant valued at ₹1.4 crore. Students are also actively participating in ICMR Short-Term Studentship programmes and KAHER-funded research projects.
Here, a patient receives treatment.
A student receives education.
And a researcher gets the opportunity to pursue new ideas and discoveries.
That is the spirit of a truly integrated academic medical centre.
The Next Chapter of a Dream
The KLE Society carries a legacy of more than a century of service. Under the leadership and vision of Dr. Prabhakar Kore, that legacy continues to evolve with the changing needs of society.
KAHER has emerged as an important centre for health sciences education, research and healthcare services.
The academic and medical ecosystem that grew in Belagavi under Dr. Kore’s leadership has now found a new expression in Hubballi.
On September 19, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will dedicate the new medical college building and the 1,200-bed hospital to public service.
It is more than an inauguration.
It is a moment when four decades of vision find a new address.
A journey of service that began in the soil of Belagavi has now reached the doorstep of Hubballi.
In the years ahead, every doctor who graduates from this campus, every patient who finds healing here and every research breakthrough that emerges from its laboratories will become part of the larger story of Dr. Prabhakar Kore’s vision.
To build a city is development.
To create doctors for a region is service.
To build institutions capable of transforming the health of generations is vision.
The KLE medical campus in Hubballi stands as yet another towering symbol of that vision.
