Thiruvananthapuram: MP Suresh Gopi agreed to take up with the Centre the failure of Medical Council of India to give permission to Government Medical College Parippally to start an MBBS course. The actor-turned-politician said that Kollam does not have a medical college in government sector and the new medical college would add 100 seats at government fees.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) had earlier disapproved the state government’s proposal to start the ESI Corporation Medical College at Paripally this academic year by admitting students to 100 MBBS seats. This was after the government took over the medical college after the ESI Corporation decided not to go ahead with the project. The MCI inspection team which visited the campus cited faculty shortage as the prime reason for denying permission.
However, afterwards, 32 doctors have been given appointment. This was by transferring faculty posts from the proposed medical college at Konni and the proposed new medical college in the capital. The government then requested MCI to start the ESIC Medical College at Parippally to ensure 100 government MBBS seats this academic year itself.
The ball is now in the court of Lodha committee appointed by the Supreme Court to monitoring the functioning of MCI. The committee had overruled the MCI decision denying permission for the establishment of 86 new medical colleges for the current academic session starting September 30. This has given hope for the medical college.
