Over the last 60 years, the Government Medical College in Kozhikode has played an integral role in the health sector in the Malabar region. The institution has given birth to some of the best medical professionals in the country and has remained the ultimate healthcare destination for the common man. What best way to celebrate this occasion that to plant 60 medicinal plants.
As many as 60 celebrities in Kozhikode took part in the planting session on Tuesday near the Medical College stadium where they planted sixty saplings and took an oath to protect them.
The celebrities included people’s representatives, freedom fighters, environmentalists, writers, social and cultural activists and heads of various departments of the medical college. The programme was organised to mark the diamond jubilee year of the college, the celebrations of which were inaugurated on Monday by Minister for Labour T.P. Ramakrishnan. Gandhian Thayat Balan, freedom fighter P. Vasu, poet P.K. Gopi, and writers Khadeeja Mumtaz and Civic Chandran were among those who were part of the drive.
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Meanwhile, various organisations have come forward to be part of the drive, which aims at planting 1,000 saplings on the Medical College campus in the month of June. Neem, gooseberry, sandal, and guava are among the medicinal plants that will find place on the campus.
The drive is being organised by the National Green Core with the support of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, State Department of Forests, Malabar Botanical Garden, and the Institute for Plant Science. The drive is part of efforts by the Forest Department to ensure that ten times the number of plants destroyed for the sake of development are planted across the State.