District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareeth has recommended that the government should take over the Cochin Medical College (CMC) in the report submitted to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday.
The report said that the takeover process can be carried out by appointing a special officer heading a sub-committee that would look into the nitty-gritty of redeployment and rehabilitation of employees and appoint eligible candidates to new posts.
The medical college at Kalamassery constructed on 60 acres of land given by the government has Rs.51.40 crore as movable and immovable property. The Cooperative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE), under which the college had come up, had created these assets with an overdraft on the property. The accrued liabilities over the past 13 years is Rs.73 crore, Mr. Pareeth said. The average annual loss of the college is pegged at Rs.6 crore.
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The hospital, which has 500 beds in the general ward and 36 in other departments, treated 13,500 in-patients last year. There are 15 specialties in the out-patient department with a fully functional 24-hour casualty and trauma centre. Other facilities in the hospital detailed in the report are a diagnostic laboratory, radiology, physiotherapy, blood bank, pharmacy and a dialysis unit.
The institution under CAPE generates a revenue of Rs.29.42 crore for conducting the MBBS and other courses offered by the college and incurs an expense of Rs. 36 crore. The 100 MBBS seats under CAPE are divided into 50 merit seats, 35 management seats and 15 NRI seats.
When the government takes over, the fee collection of Rs.21.38 crore will come down to Rs.2 crore, the report said. A loan overdraft against the CMC land is being utilised to run the college.
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There are 835 persons employed in the college, including 251 teachers. Among the teachers, 182 are regular employees while 53 have been appointed on contract. Two teachers are on deputation, 13 are consultants, and one person is on daily wages.
Among the non-teaching staff, out of the 584 persons, 232 are regular employees, 182 on contract and 170 on daily wages. Nearly Rs.3 crore a month would be needed to give salaries to all the employees. Annually, Rs. 36 crore is needed on the salary account, the report said. The government takeover would require at least Rs12 crore every month for expenses on medicines, examinations, operations, maintenance and charges for electricity and water.
About 25 acres of land is available for further development of the college. A new building for a nursing college and school was opened last month.
There are about 15 buildings on the premises that are about five to eight years old. These would need annual maintenance costing about Rs.2.5 crore.
The Collector handed over the asset and liability report on the Cochin Medical College to the Chief Minister in the presence of C.N. Balakrishnan, Minister for Co-operation; V.S. Sivakumar, Minister for Health; P.K. Kunhalikutty, Minister for Industries and IT; Adoor Prakash, Minister for Revenue; K. Babu, Minister for Excise; V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, Minister for Public Works; K.P. Mohanan, Minster for Agriculture; P.K. Abdu Rabb, Minister for Education; Anoop Jacob, Minister for Civil Supplies; and Chief Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhusan.