Kerala: MCI denies permission to Idukki Medical College, students and staff shifted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Directorate of Medical Education has successfully completed the shifting of both medical students and faculty of Idukki Medical College, to other government medical colleges and hospitals, respectively, after the MCI denied the college permission to admit students for the current academic year.

Idukki Medical college started by the UDF government in 2014 in the face of shortcomings, has been forced to request the health department to shift its students and faculty to other colleges & hospitals, in order to help them continue with their learning and teaching.

The transfer decision of the 2^nd year MBBS students was taken after the college authorities failed to provide proper clinical training facilities on campus. Presently, 20 teaching staff have been shifted to different medical colleges, based on a working arrangement. 49 of the 50 MBBS students having cleared the first and second semester at the Idukki Medical College, were shifted earlier.

As part of the faculty transfers, College Principal Dr P P Mohanan has been made to join Kottayam Medical College as Professor, General Medicine. His subordinates have been shifted to the Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Alappuzha, Thrissur and Manjeri government medical colleges.

Despite these transfers Idukki has not been shut down permanently. "After improving the infrastructure, a fresh application would be submitted to the MCI seeking permission to admit students in the next academic year," said a health department official.

In the absence of facilities for clinical training for the third and fourth-semester students, the department was forced to transfer the students out of the medical college. It is believed that there is a serious shortage of teaching staff and theaters, speciality wings, wards, labs and other facilities at Idukki Medical College.

As per the MBBS curriculum, second-year students are to undergo clinical training in respiratory medicine, ophthalmology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, dermatology, ENT, casualty, clinical pathology and community medicine.