Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Govt.-medicos talks end in stalemate

By Our Special Correspondent

S. Semmalai, Education Minister, meeting representatives of medical college students at the Secretariat in Chennai on Saturday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI May 3. The talks between striking medicos and the Health Minister, S. Semmalai, ended in a stalemate today with the students insisting on an assurance that no private medical college would be allowed in the State. The Minister told them that the Government could not take any such decision, as it did not have the powers to do so.

Spaking to presspersons, he said though the Government had received about 10 applications for setting up private colleges, it had not given the essentiality certificate - one of the mandated requisites — for any of them. But this did not mean much, as private colleges could still be set up with the approval of the Centre and the Medical Council of India, with the applicants armed with court rulings.

Mr. Semmalai reportedly told the students that he called them for discussions as the Madras High Court had advised the Government to do so. It was willing to discuss any particular problem, but there was no point talking about the issue of setting up private medical colleges.

Later, he charged that someone was instigating the students to talk in the manner they did. He refused to pinpoint his suspicion, but insisted that ``the manner in which the students spoke'' seemed to indicate that they were taught to say those words. The Government would submit a report to the court on the outcome of the talks, he said.

The striking medicos, who expressed their disappointment over the talks, refused to comment whether they were acting in contempt of court, since they had not returned to classes despite an explicit ruling that they should do so by May 1. They decided to intensify their agitation in a bid to force the Government on the issue.

Asked about the possibility of the agitation intensifying with sections of doctors joining in, the Minister said the Government would not tolerate any inconvenience caused to the people. He said the students should go back to classes. The other outstanding issues - recognition for the Tiruchi Medical College, and the fact that more than 75 courses have not been accorded recognition — were being settled, but the students were not even thankful that the Government was acting quickly on these.

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