The Union Health Ministry has given in-principle approval for starting admissions to 100 MBBS seats from the next academic year at the K Karunakaran Memorial Government Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, ending a nearly decade-long wait for a medical college that was built but never admitted a single student.
Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan announced the decision on Tuesday, a day after leading a state delegation to meet Union Health Minister JP Nadda in New Delhi. He described the approval as the fulfilment of one of the UDF government's key promises in the health sector.
According to a Facebook post by Mr Muraleedharan, Mr Nadda termed it "criminal negligence" that the medical college remained non-functional despite buildings and infrastructure worth hundreds of crores of rupees having been completed nearly ten years ago. Had the college begun admissions as originally planned, around 1,100 doctors could have graduated by now, the Union minister reportedly said.
The K Karunakaran Memorial Government Medical College, the second government medical college in the state capital, was completed nearly a decade ago but remained in limbo under successive governments without securing permission to start its MBBS course. As a result, despite being ready, the campus never admitted a single batch of students. The institution is named after former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, the father of the current health minister.
The announcement is significant for Kerala, which has long argued that the unused infrastructure represented a major loss to the state's healthcare and medical education sectors. The current UDF government had identified operationalising the college as one of its early priorities after assuming office earlier this year.
The Union minister also assured the Kerala delegation that the Centre would consider the state's long-pending demand for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Kerala has sought an AIIMS for years under successive governments, but the proposal has yet to receive final approval.
Mr Muraleedharan said the Centre had also asked Kerala to submit a proposal for establishing what could become India's first Genetic Institute in the state.
The meeting also resulted in a series of other assurances from the Centre. These include support for setting up trauma care centres attached to district hospitals across Kerala, in-principle approval to enhance coverage under the Centre's health insurance scheme, assistance to modernise the state's three mental health institutions, and support for administering the HPV vaccine to girls.
The Centre also assured Kerala that its allocation under the National Health Mission would be increased as funds become available, following the state's request for higher financial assistance. It further promised support for procuring certain non-communicable disease medicines, select cancer drugs, and medicines not currently available in India, besides enhanced assistance for the state's virology institute.
Mr Muraleedharan said Union Minister Nadda appreciated Kerala's healthcare achievements and described the discussions as positive and encouraging.