Thrissur: Health Minister P. K. Sreemathy has said the Kerala University of Medical and Allied Science in Thrissur will begin to function in the first week of December.
She was addressing a meet-the-press programme at the Thrissur Press Club on Friday. “The university will be formally launched after the byelections in the State. An amount of Rs.10 crore has been earmarked in the budget for the launch and development of the university,” she said.
Asked whether the government would reconsider demands by a section of medical college doctors to make private practice optional, the Minister said she had made her stand clear in formal and informal talks with the doctors.
“The government is firm on banning private practice by medical college doctors. It is a policy decision and there is no question of changing it. The majority of medical college doctors support the government stance,” she said.
Asked whether there was a possibility of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association (KGMCTA) renewing its agitation as it had decided to adopt a “wait-and-watch policy” before deciding on further course of action, she said there was no scope for re-launching the strike.
Replying to a question whether she saw KGMCTA’s agitation as a failure, she said the issue of success or failure did not apply to this context.
She said that 400-odd vacant posts in five government medical colleges would be filled before December 31.
“As many as 2,560 doctors had applied for the posts through the Public Service Commission. Of them, 501 are postgraduates. The vacant posts are not causing difficulties to the public as fresh postgraduates from medical colleges have been temporarily posted there under a residency system after they signed a one-year bond.”
She announced that the government hospitals in taluk headquarters would soon have round-the-clock casualty facilities.
“The focus is on developing hospitals in the periphery so as to reduce the number of patients in major referral centres such as the Government Medical College Hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode,” she said.