How every course works
Three years of study, then three months inside a working hospital. Finish PUC first and you skip straight to second year.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಮೆಡಿಕಲ್ ಲ್ಯಾಬೋರೇಟರಿ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿಎಂಎಲ್ ಟಿ)
Blood, tissue and culture work. You learn to run and read the tests that most diagnoses depend on — haematology, biochemistry, microbiology and pathology — and to keep a lab's quality control honest.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಮೆಡಿಕಲ್ ಇಮೇಜಿಂಗ್ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿಎಂಐಟಿ)
X-ray, CT and ultrasound. Positioning a patient correctly, setting exposure, protecting everyone in the room from radiation, and producing an image a radiologist can actually read.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಹೆಲ್ತ್ ಇನ್ಸ್ಪೆಕ್ಟರ್ (ಡಿಎಚ್ಐ)
Work that happens before anyone reaches a hospital. Water and food safety, sanitation, vector control, immunisation drives and outbreak response across a taluk or district.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಮೆಡಿಕಲ್ ರೆಕಾರ್ಡ್ಸ್ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿಎಂಆರ್ ಟಿ)
Coding, indexing, storing and retrieving patient records — the paperwork insurance claims, audits and hospital statistics all run on. The only course open to PUC students from any stream by lateral entry.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಆಪರೇಷನ್ ಥಿಯೇಟರ್ ಮತ್ತು ಅನಸ್ಥೇಶಿಯಾ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿಓಟಿ & ಎಟಿ)
Preparing the theatre, sterilising instruments, handling anaesthesia equipment and monitoring the patient through surgery. High-pressure work where the checklist is the whole job.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಡಯಾಲಿಸಿಸ್ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿಡಿಟಿ)
Setting up, running and monitoring dialysis for patients with kidney failure — often the same patients, three times a week, for years. Machine handling, water treatment and infection control.
ಡಿಪ್ಲೊಮಾ ಇನ್ ಆಪ್ತಾಲ್ಮಿಕ್ ಟೆಕ್ನಾಲಜಿ (ಡಿ.ಓ.ಟಿ)
Vision testing, refraction, dispensing and assisting in eye surgery. Much of India's avoidable blindness is caught at an eye camp by someone with exactly this training.
Practicals
The Para Medical Board conducts examinations for every course under the Karnataka State Nursing & Para Medical Education Regulation Authority, Bengaluru. Each Board exam has a written paper, a practical and a viva, following the scheme laid down for that subject.
Internal assessment is conducted by the college at least twice a year. The average of those two goes to the Board before the theory exam begins.
Syllabus & question papersBoard regulations
The full rules are set by the Para Medical Board. These are the ones students ask about most.
Entry rules & eligibilityAfter the diploma
Paramedical technologists work anywhere medicine is practised — district and taluk hospitals, private diagnostic labs, dialysis centres, eye hospitals, blood banks, public health programmes and medical college hospitals.
Affiliations & recognitions
Still deciding
One call is usually enough to narrow seven courses down to two.