Southern States - Kerala

KGMCTA expresses concern

By Our Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM June 23. The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) has expressed concern in the alleged move to turn highly specialised examinations being conducted by Medical Colleges into subjects for controversy, as it would affect the very credibility of the profession.

Referring to the controversies over last year's examinations conducted by the Kerala University at the Alappuzha Medical College and the suicide of one of the medical students there, the KGMCTA leaders said that their inquiry into the matter had found that the teachers were not guilty. The Association has suggested concerted effort on the part of the Government, teachers and the parents to avoid such unfortunate incidents in future.

Referring to the move to impose a medical cess by the state government as part of the new policy initiatives, the Association leaders said such moves would send a wrong signal to all concerned. Instead of imposing separate cess for every service being provided by the State, the Government should meet the expenses from the general tax revenue, they said.

Expressing concern at the erosion of social commitment on the part of some of the private medical colleges, the Association said they were with the Chief Minister who wanted to ensure 50 per cent of the seats for students from the merit list, that too at the same rate of fee as being imposed by government medical colleges. They also called for an immediate solution for the confusion existing in the private medical colleges with regard to admission and fee structure.

The medical college teachers asked the authorities to ensure that the medical college hospitals to be tertiary referral centres so as to ensure quality service to the needy. They also wanted more autonomy for the medical colleges.

The Association leaders made a fervent call to fill up the vacancies existing in the Government Medical Colleges. According to them, nearly 30 per cent of the posts were lying vacant and this has created a serious crisis in the medical education sector. The large majority of these vacancies were at the entry cadre and the Government should fill the posts through recruitments through the PSC, they said. They also called for the regular meeting of the departmental promotion committee so that the vacancies in the higher cadres like associate professor and assistant professor would be filled on time.

New office-bearers: S. Abdul Khaddar (Calicut Medical College), president, Tigy Thomas Jacob (Kottayam), general secretary, Abraham Kallivayalil, treasurer, T. K. Gopalakrishnan Nair (Editor), Sherly Vasu (Kozhikode), M. V. Suresh (Thrissur), T. U. Sukumaran (Kottayam), D. Karthikeyan (Alappuzha) and B. K. Madhumohan (Thiruvananthapuram), (vice-presidents); G. Rajan (Kozhikode), P. S. Vasudevan (Thrissur), Varhgese V. Punnose (Kottayam), R.V. Ramlal (Alappuzha). K. S. Manoj (Thiruvananthapuram), joint secretaries. They will take oath at the 35th annual conference of the Association scheduled at Alappuzha on June 29, they said.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu