Retirements and transfers of doctors are reportedly affecting the functioning of the Government Medical College and Hospital, Kozhikode, one of the major public health institutions in the Malabar region.
The medical college does not have a full-time principal since April 30. As many as 17 senior doctors have retired from service in less than two months. Adding to this is the transfer of existing doctors to medical college hospitals in Wayanad, Kasaragod, Idukki, and Pathanamthitta. Sources said that though those transferred were being promoted to new posts, they could have been retained at Kozhikode since the medical college had those posts.
V.R. Rajendran, the incumbent principal, who was part of the Radiology Department, retired from service on April 30. K.G. Sajeeth Kumar, Vice-Principal, has been given the additional charge of principal. The Directorate of Medical Education is still in the process of finding a successor to Dr. Rajendran.
Those who retired along with him were Sheela Mathew, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases; M. Rajani, Beena Guhan, and A. Naseemabeevi, professors in the Department of Gynaecology; N. Geetha, Head of the Department of Physiology and her colleague G. Rajalakshmi; P.T. Jyothi, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, and V.K. Jayadev, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine.
Those who retired on May 31 include C.G. Sajeev, Head of the Department of Cardiology; J. Beena Philomina, Head of the Department of Microbiology; M.C. Jeeja, Head of the Department of Pharmacology; C.H. Mini, Head of the Department of Gynaecology; T. Jayakrishnan, Professor, Department of Community Medicine, G. Rajan, Professor, and P.C. Muraleedharan, Associate Professor, both at the Department of Pathology, and K. Shylaja, Professor, Department of Anatomy.
Those who retired are experts in the field of academics as well as medical treatment. Since they are not being replaced, both students and patients are facing the consequences as both academic works and treatment are found to have been hit.
