f things had worked as planned in 2013, at least 40 children of beneficiaries under the Employees State Insurance (ESI) scheme would have been MBBS students now under a reservation quota at the Parippally ESI Medical College Hospital, near here, which was commissioned in December 2013.
Work on the project had begun in December 2013. It was announced then that the classes for the first batch of 100 MBBS students would begin in September 2014. The quota for children of ESI beneficiaries was 20 per cent. But the Medical Council of India (MCI) refused to grant recognition to the college after an inspection in early 2014 as faculty appointments had not been completed.
In July 2014, the faculty appointments were completed. But, for reasons which remain unclear, the hospital authorities did not invite the MCI for a re-inspection. This brought admissions to the much-publicised first MBBS batch to a standstill. Sources said a section of the ESI hospital staff attached to the college was averse to the re-inspection.
But in the interim, there was another development. The apex decision-making body of the ESIC, at its meeting on January 5, 2015, took the formal decision that the “ESIC should exit from the field of medical education entirely as that was not the core function of the organisation.”
It was also decided to hand over the medical colleges and other medical institutions of the ESIC to the respective State governments willing for such transfer. It brought uncertainty over the Rs.540-crore Parippally project. Later, following intervention by the Kollam MP N.K. Premachandran, the State government came forward to take over the institution and things progressed to the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding for the transfer so that MBBS admissions could begin in September this year with 35 per cent reservation to children of ESI beneficiaries.
But that was not to the liking of a section of the staff. They feared that their pay-scale and other benefits would be hit if the State government took over the institution.
They took up a fund collection drive and entrusted the proceeds to Left trade union leaders to move the High Court against the takeover. The court granted a stay. The case is now pending before the High Court.
High Court has granted a stay
on the State takeover of the medical college
