Improper infrastructure at Idukki medical college

Thiruvananthapuram: Doctors transferred to Idukki medical college have no infrastructure and accommodation. In the ophthalmology department, as against the required staff of eight, there is just one professor; six doctors are required in the ENT department but there are only three doctors.

The situation is the same at Manjeri Medical College with some doctors already seeing 250 patients per day and in addition, have been asked to teach MBBS students.

Government sources reveal that Idukki Medical College principal Dr. Tom Jose has been keen on taking attendance without even providing adequate infrastructure and accommodation to the re-deployed doctors.

A doctor working at Idukki medical college at Cheruthoni told DC that this was the condition of a district hospital which did not even have an ambulance.

“The Government is putting pressure on Dr. Jose and he is helpless. In fact departments like radio diagnosis, orthopedics, pediatrics and anesthesia are yet to start functioning in Idukki. In the case of the ENT department, there is no OP, IP and lab facilities which reveals the deplorable condition here”, said a doctor from Idukki.

Another doctor rued that such a situation had come to pass where an MBBS would have to teach the new batch of medical students because of the dearth of qualified professors.

He told DC that though they had put in extra efforts to ease the situation, the Government never understood their situation where they were forced to juggle OP and surgery.

“When medical teaching is considered to be the most important thing, it is being given scant regard by the Government. With a large number of patients thronging both Manjeri and Idukki medical colleges that are understaffed, the woes just add up”, said another doctor.

Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association State secretary Dr. Kavitha Ravi told DC that a high level meeting had been called by the Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday which would be attended by health minister V. S. Sivakumar, health and family welfare secretary Dr. K. Ellangovan and other senior health officials to improve the facilities in these two medical colleges.