The Akhila Bharatha Ayyappa Seva Sanghom (ABASS) has called upon the government as well as the Travancore Devaswom Board to take necessary steps to set up a medical college at Ranni Perinad with a view to provide advanced medical care facility to Sabarimala pilgrims.
ABASS, Ranni unit has convened a meeting of the people’s representatives and sanghom volunteers at Ranni-Perinad on Monday to press the demand for the medical college.
The meeting has stressed the need to provide better healthcare facility for Sabarimala pilgrims during the two-month long annual pilgrim season when as many as the State’s population visit the pilgrim centre every year. By setting up the proposed medical college at Perinad, the rural population in the remote hilly tracts of Ranni and Konni will also benefit, said Mr. Raju Abraham, MLA, who had inaugurated the meeting.
Taking a critically ill patient to Kottayam Medical College all the way from Sabarimala involves high risk and many patients had succumbed to their ailments in transit, said the MLA.
He said the proposed medical college at Perinad would be able to set up a well-equipped seasonal satellite healthcare centre at Pampa and Sabarimala during the annual pilgrim season, ensuring a foolproof medical facility to the scores of pilgrims visiting the place every year.
Mr. V.K. Rajagopal, ABASS State council secretary, presided over the meeting.
He said the sanghom would soon submit a memorandum to Chief Minister, V.S. Achuthanandan, Health Minister, P.K. Sreemathy and Devaswom Minister, Kadannappally Ramachandran to take the initiative for setting up the proposed medical college.
Central Travancore Development Council secretary, C.R. Krishna Kurup, BJP district vice-president, Prasad N. Bhaskaran, district panchayat member, T.K. Saju, block panchayat president, Komalam Anirudhan and presidents of various grama panchayats in and around Ranni, K.G. Muraleedharan, Mohanraj Jacob, and S. Haridas, were among those who addressed the meet.
