The Government Medical College, Idukki, is once again in the limelight, as the State government has managed to secure National Medical Commission’s (NMC) approval for opening the college again, this time, with 100 MBBS seats.
All procedural requirements would be speeded up so that the college could conduct admission to the 100 MBBS seats this year itself, a statement issued by Health Minister Veena George said.
The Idukki medical college, which was opened in 2014 with bare minimum facilities during the last United Democratic Front government, had been allowed to admit 50 MBBS students then. It could only admit one more batch, before the then Medical Council of India cancelled its accreditation in 2016, citing lack of infrastructural facilities and shortage of faculty in the institution. The State government had to step in and admit the students to other medical colleges to salvage the situation as the future of the students were at stake.
In her statement, Ms. George claimed that the government had gone ahead with clear planning to secure the NMC’s approval, by ensuring that all the lacunae that had been pointed out by the commission earlier were rectified. A new building was constructed for starting in-patient (IP) admissions and the inadequacies in human resources were also met to a large extent .
Health-care needs
Ms. George said that the government considered it a major achievement that it could create new facilities to the extent that approval could be won for admitting 100 MBBS students. The medical college hospital, as it develops, will fulfill a crucial role in meeting the health-care requirements of the people in the high range belt, the statement said.
It has been directed that all construction work be expedited so that new facilities could be started.
The medical college hospital now has a new emergency wing, along with new diagnostic facilities, including CT scan, digital Xray, mammography, computerised radiography and a modern blood bank, the statement said.
