Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition walked out from the Assembly and staged a sit-in in front of the House protesting against the government decision not to admit students to 1250 MBBS seats in the state. While the Opposition alleged that the LDF government was trying to help the lobbies of private medical colleges in other states, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja accused the previous UDF government of creating medical colleges without ensuring enough staff or minimum infrastructure.
Replying to the notice for an adjournment motion given by the Opposition, the minister said that the present government was trying to rectify the mistakes committed by the previous government by inaugurating medical colleges without any facilities. “We are committed to make all the new medical colleges centres of excellence. But there was not enough time for setting up the facilities prior to the Medical Council of India’s inspection. Hence the government decided not to admit students to the new colleges this year,” she said.
As permission was denied to the adjournment motion, the Opposition staged a walkout and sit-in. Former health minister V S Sivakumar said that as many as 1250 MMB seats, including 655 merit seats, were lost his year. The government was not initiating any proactive measures to address this. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said that it was not practical to admit students to medical colleges only after setting up all facilities.
