Six private medical colleges fail to get MCI recognition Failure of six private self-financing medical colleges to create the requisite infrastructure facilities and get the approval of the Medical Council of India (MCI) will cost the State 400 medical seats in the government quota. This was indicated by Minister for Health V. S. Sivakumar while replying to a question in the Assembly on Wednesday on the admission to the medical colleges during the current academic year. In all, the six private medical colleges have 800 seats and 50 per cent of it is government quota. The government has already reached an agreement with the private medical colleges on the fee structure. But, he said the management of the six medical colleges who had not got the MCI approval did not participate in the meetings and were not part of the agreement. The government will go ahead with the admissions to 1,250 medical seats in the government medical colleges on the basis of the approval given by the MCI and that there were no hitches, he said. The Health Minister said 1,471 posts were created in the four medical colleges after the present UDF government came to power. Of these, 460 are posts of doctors. The government has decided to increase stipend of the senior residents in the range of Rs.50,000 to Rs. 60,000 to overcome their shortage in government medical colleges. PMC takeover The government is going ahead with the takeover of the Pariyaram Medical College (PMC). Financial difficulties had prevented the commencement of work of the Rs. 450 crore Cancer Institute in Kochi. Mr. Sivakumar said the Centre has been approached for assistance. Objections The Finance Department has also raised objections and has sought clarifications, he added. The government is to invest Rs.2,000 crore in the government medical colleges as part of providing good education to medical students and good treatment for the citizens. @http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/state-may-lose-400-medical-seats/article7427723.ece

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