In what could well be a symptom of a widespread rot, a medical college in Kerala has advertised that it is up for sale.
The advertisement appeared in a leading Malayalam daily on September 13 and reads that a “reputed well-run medical college in Kerala for sale/takeover.” The advertisement asks “financially sound parties” to respond via email.
The advertisement flies in the face of the accepted logic in Kerala that it is only the engineering colleges that are in a corner and that the medical colleges are doing far better. But is it the paucity of students that plagues medical colleges in the State? Are there other reasons for medical colleges to throw in the towel and call it a day?
According to those associated with the running of medical colleges, the prime problem is cash crunch. Back when managements could admit students to the management quota, they could collect money by way of donations, capitation fee, upfront fee and bank guarantees for all the five years of the MBBS programme. That era is over. Now all students are being admitted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations from the NEET rank list according to merit and on the basis of a pre-declared fee, except where the matter is with the courts.
Strict action
The other day when some managements started asking for blank cheques from parents, the Admission Supervisory Committee reacted with alacrity and issued an order that the collecting of blank cheques or asking for an upfront fee (of all the five years together) would come under the definition of capitation fee and that action would be taken under the relevant rules.
“The fact is that all the newcomer colleges have a cash crunch,” Fazal Gafoor, spokesperson of the MES, told The Hindu. “On the one hand we are asked to reduce the fee and on the other we have to keep the college going. This is no joke. The managements are left with no option to raise money. It is my understanding that at least a handful of medical colleges are contemplating a sale or takeover,” he said.
Anilkumar Vallil, Secretary of the Self-financing Medical Colleges Management Association, told The Hindu that many medical colleges were today finding it difficult to stay afloat.
