New Delhi: 950 additional medical seats granted to Kerala by Lodha Committee

New Delhi:Kerala has been granted an additional 950 MBBS seats by the Supreme court appointed Oversight Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha. The seats have been granted to the self financing and minority medical colleges in Kerala, for the current academic session.

The seat increase will also add ten post graduate admissions to the Amrita School of Medicine in Kochi and the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. The lodha Committee’s approval for twenty six new medical colleges in the country, has two new colleges falling into Kerala’s lap. Besides this, the Lodha Committee sanctions also lead to a 3,900 seat increase under the government quota.

The seat increase grants a 150 seats each to the two new medical institutions: SR Medical College and Research Center, Thiruvananthapuram and Kerala Medical College, Pallakad.

The remaining seats will be divided among DM Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences (4^th batch,150 seats); PK Das Institute of Medical Sciences (3rd batch,150 Seats); Al Azhar Medical College and Super Speciality Hospital (3^rd batch,150 seats).

The Kozhikode Medical College Hospital however has fallen out of luck as the proposal to increase its 100 seats has been rejected by the committee.

Of the additional ten Post graduate seats, eight have gone to the Amrita Hospital, Kochi's kitty; four of the eight have gone the MCH/DM program way in the fields of Gynaecology, Oncology, Paediatrics, Surgery, Reproductive Medicine and Rheumatology.

The Department of Endocrinology at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital has benefited with two PG seats coming its way.

The Lodha Committee has also taken a favourable stand towards proposals submitted by eight institutions, inclusive of the Malabar Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode. The final decision will be announced by the committee soon.

The Lodha Committee has directed the institutions for an affidavit submission stating that infrastructural inadequacies have already been addressed. A bank guarantee of Rs. 2 crore, ( amounting to a one year royalty) has also been asked for. This is exclusive of the stipulated fee for applications for increasing the intake of students.

An institutional facility review would be conducted after September 30. According to the committee, institutions that don’t make the mark will be disallowed from taking in any fresh MBBS admissions for the next two academic years.

The committee which was appointed by the Supreme court to oversee the functioning of the Medical Council of India, also has Dr. Shiv Sareen, Director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences , New Delhi & Vinod Rai, former Comptroller & Auditor General of India, as the two other members, besides former Chief Justice Lodha. The Committee has gone through several applications including some earlier MCI rejections.