Kerala at risk of losing 300 MBBS seats this year; big news for entrance preparing students

Normally, it is after a yeoman's work that students see their name in the NEET exam rankings. With this year's medical entrance exams around the corner, some news of ambiguity surrounding the affiliation of Kerala's medical colleges is spewing tensions in the student milieu.

Pointing to the dearth of faculties and basic amenities, the National Medical Commission took away 150 MBBS seats from Alappuzha medical college. The recognition of Konni, Palakkad, and Idukki government medical colleges is also at a standstill with the NMC issuing the same reason as that experienced by Alappuzha medical college. If the national medical commission fails to reconsider its decision, more than 300 medical seats will be canceled while 18 PG seats across these four government medical colleges are feared to vanish.

Meanwhile, in one ray of hope, the council has asked the medical colleges to conform to standards followed by the national medical council and has given word about reconsidering the case. Acting in accordance, the higher officials in the health department have started work to abide by the suggestions made by the council. The officials can't afford any flubs this time since the matter affects the studies of students who prefer to stay inside Kerala for their pursuit to become doctors.

However, accusations are rife, since it is hard to digest that the pointed-out errors in management including lack of facilities and resident doctors have hitherto escaped the eyes of the officials. Or how can the officials downplay such a massive error? This happens at a time when the new batch for MBBS is ready to commence. It is no new for affiliations to get canceled citing the lack of faculties and dearth of basic amenities. In earlier times, the colleges used to shrewdly arrange other faculties from different colleges to save face from officials visiting such colleges for affiliation purposes. But Alappuzha medical college is far ahead in repute and it is no mere place to do petty shrewdness or face-saving acts. It is one of the most sought-after educational abodes in Kerala and such mismanagement from officials calls for retrospection.

Some questions are pertinent and need to be asked. What was the motive behind the university keeping mum about the lack of faculty issue and what engagements did the health minister have to complete without caring a heed about the happenings in these elite institutions? Even if the state losses 10 medicine seats, it hollers predicament and the students are sure to be thrown into the abyss of despair. So it reeks of ineptitude and negligence from the authorities as Kerala now sits on the verge of losing as big as 300 medicine seats.

In private-run medical colleges, there is no dearth of faculties. What is stopping the government to adopt the same rules to hold firm their bunch of faculties than gifting tears to the aspiring lakhs in Kerala? Meanwhile, the authorities are hopeful of sorting out the issue in the next round of inspection from NMC.