The medical education sector in Kerala could be in a state of flux as the State loses some 800 MBBS seats for the academic year 2015-16.
Serious defificiences
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has refused to renew permission for admission to these seats, citing serious deficiencies in faculty and residents’ posts as well as infrastructure.
The seats lost include the 250 seats in the newly created government medical colleges (GMCs) at Palakkad, Manjeri and Idukki. At present, there are about 30 medical colleges in the State and about 3,350 MBBS seats.
Though government sources choose to dismiss this and claim that the MBBS seats in GMCs can be retained once the deficiencies are made up and a compliance report is filed with the MCI, it is easier said than done, senior medical college faculty say.
“If the MCI has refused to renew MBBS batches for 2015-16, it is not going to be very easy for the government to get these seats back this year,” says a faculty member.
The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association says the government got permission from the MCI for starting MBBS batches in Palakkad, Manjeri, and Idukki last year after giving an undertaking that all deficiencies will be rectified within a year.
