Kerala - Kochi   

Cooperative medical college facing crisis

KOCHI: The Cooperative Medical College at Kalamassery is probably heading for serious problems at a time when the Medical Council of India had recommended to the Union Government for recognising the institution.

With no full-time Principal for the college and the director of Cooperative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE) on long leave, the College Hospital is just managing to get by its daily routine. The vice-principal in-charge said that CAPE was trying to find another principal for the college.

But the professors and doctors said that it would be difficult to find someone, as the Principal has not much role in running the college. The Principal has no appointing authority and is authorised to spend only Rs.10,000 for the needs of college.

The teaching staff, nursing staff, paramedical and other technical staff of the College continue to be lured by private medical colleges with better offers. The medical college, which is the only quasi-government college in the district, is lying unattended by the political patrons who had started the college in the cooperative sector. The hospital has grown, over the last three years with many modern facilities. However, the doctors feel that CAPE is not taking any interest in making it a full-fledged hospital. There are a number of expert hands who had joined the college after retiring from government medical colleges. But, they are not being properly utilised, say many doctors who are willing to continue hoping that things will change for the better. A crisis that precipitated a couple of months ago was temporarily patched up by the Minister for Cooperation who promised that the issues of the hospital would be resolved soon. In fact, interviews for appointing doctors and nurses were held. But, only a few joined as the pay offered was very low, said a doctor.

Only the orthopaedic and gynaecology departments are functioning properly. One ortho unit was closed down due to lack of staff. The C-arm machine in the orthopaedic department, which provides real time X-ray images to help the surgeons to go about their procedures and surgeries with accuracy is now non-functional. Only the super-specialty hospitals and the General Hospital have such a facility, said a doctor.

Affordable treatment charges at the hospital compared to private hospitals is another attraction. But the government is doing nothing that would make the patients feel comfortable.

The final word for recognition from the Union Ministry is yet to come. And there are no efforts to see that it gets done, said a senior doctor.

With the admission time nearing, the college is likely to find few takers if the government continues to be disinterested in promoting a medical college that has kept aside 50 per cent seats for meritorious students with the same fee as in the government colleges. The college, which had struggled to come up to this level, seems to be in a crisis again.

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