A.I.I.M.S status sought for Calicut Medical College.

Many organizations and public forums in the city have demanded for according AIIMS status for Calicut Medical College .The Kozhikode corporation council sent a unanimous memorandum to the chief minister and the authorities concerned  demanding this.

The Calicut chamber of commerce and industry has pointed out that Calicut, being the capital of Malabar has been facing a sort of negligence in all developmental projects. Many political parties, medical college students union, youth organizations, doctor’s forum also have the same opinion on the issue. Thiruvananthapuram has the convenience of advanced medical college hospital and super speciality public sector hospitals like Sree Chithra.

Six districts in the Malabar region will get the benefits of AIIMS if Calicut gets the status. Thousands of poor patients from Malabar region now depend upon this hospital for their health care.

If the status is accorded, the research facilities as well as development of all the existing departments will be possible. While ranking the physical convenience, Calicut Medical College is second to none. Acres of land is in possession of the hospital. Currently the hospital is overcrowded and there are many other problems due to the large number of patience coming from six districts around Calicut.

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Comments

[Dr M Hemachandran]

Hi
Having an AIIMS status for CMC is really a good idea. But it needs a huge infrastructure, space and input of a huge amount of money. As we all know most of such projects in india ends up with corruption. Half of the money will sink into some pockets, a quarter will be lost because of strikes and other political problems and only a quarter (if we are all lucky) will actually be spent for the real purpose. whether we have good roads or international airports, really does not matter!
Whether getting an AIIMS status or not, the authorities must ensure that the service to the people must be the top priority. Looking at the massive number of admissions and OPD patients, it will be a very difficult task to maintain a high standard of service comparable to big institutes in India or outside india.
Dr M Hemachandran

[Geroge Manuval]

AIIMS status: It is Kerala Govt's choice.

I would like to draw your attention why Calicut is not selected and TVM is selected?

When the central Govt came up with the idea of promoting existing Medical colleges to AIIMS status, it asked state Govt.s to name one each from their own state. (Also to mention that initially it was given for very few states the choice, and later on other states like Kerals were added!)

When the ball came to Kerala Govt's court, it is upto our policy makers to decide which one? The point is that only one can be recommended though we have several medical colleges.

Here comes the south-north divide! Traditionally we all knew that any beurocratic decision will be in favour of South (TVM) because of the simple factor that so called 'states'men are of south based. On top of them, crying from other parts like northern on central Kerala will not matter unless there is a strong political will power both at state level and central govt.

All our sentiments and campaign are washed out in that 'south'ern current.

Think about it.

[B M Joseph]

Regarding the AIIMS status for KMCH, I think there is hue and cry without realizing what is what. Many of our leaders just etch out something for sheer popularity. There may not be difference in opinion in awarding the status but it should not become a curse instead of blessing. Doctors who are indulging in means of protest should take a view from the people's side too.

Already the hospital is saturated with patients and therefore it should be expanded in all forms before granting the status, to the College. A more viable move will be to uplift the Govt. Beach hospital and then bring about whatever transformations be. It has to be reminded that KMCH stands for the five districts of Malabar and it should not be overloaded. A new institution on the lines of AIIMS will be a better option.

[Aban]

Bringing aims to Calicut AIIMS would be a great achievement to the northern part of Kerala. I pray and hope that Calicut Medical College get the AIIMS status. However I am sad to say that we have some good for nothing representatives in our government bodies.

I am surprised why it has not been taken as an important subject in the coming election. As Dr Tom Li Stephen, PhD said only Crying babies get milk.

[Deepak Balachandran]

Thats an interesting point by Dr. Vishwanathan.

Why not upgrade the present CMC to an AIIMS and, in turn, upgrade say the Beach Hospital or some other to a medical college?

This is admittedly a hastily-thought-of idea, but I wonder if this (i) makes the decision simpler for the powers that be (increasing our chances of getting the AIIMS) and (ii) will create a trickle-down effect, as the Beach Hospital will necessarily have to be relieved of some of its existing load.

I believe this sort of trickle-down phenomenon is recognized by economists.

Any comments from professionals involved?

[Dr. Viswanathan. K]

An AIIMS at Calicut will benefit the Malabar area very much not only in health and education but also in its overall development. However giving AIIMS status to the present medical college may not have the desired effect. To achieve the full benefits, whole structure of present setup has to be changed.

Apart from providing various medical and research facilities, a major change in the administrative and teaching staff will be necessary. This raises the question as to who will absorb the present medical and administrative staffs.

Admission to the under graduate and post graduate courses also will be on all India basis in case of AIIMS. That makes the state seats now available to be lost to students from the state.

Considering all these issues, it will be better to have a separate AIIMS at or near Calicut. Present campus will not be able to hold another institution of AIIMS status along with the medical college.

[J J Vellara]

It is important that Calicut Medical College get the status of AIIMS/New Delhi. But it is equally important that it needs basic expansion too. The number of patients depending on this institution is so high and increasing day by day that the existing no: of wards cannot contain all those who are admitted and it is reliably learnt that many of them are compulsorily discharged.

Going by today's parameters, it will be a herculean task to upbring the institution to the standard of AIIMS and moreover it will lead to curtailment of some of the privileges meted out now. The enormous no: of Out Patients dealt, the case of being a purely referral centre with exception for the locals etc; will have to be considered. The present scenario of Malabar area is that all Cancer patients have to que up at RCC / Trivandrum and others depend institutions outside Kerala for detailed treatment.

Hence it will be ideal to set up another instituion meeting the AIIMS standard, parallel to this either at Calicut or nearby to cope up with the demand. It can be run in joint sector inviting funds from the public as well through non-taxable bonds. There should not be any free treatment but cost being fully re-imbursed to those who are below poverty level. For others it can be done through compulsory medical insurance schemes.

The system will definitely improve the standard of medical aid rendered and will also help to prevent the private entrepeneaurs charging exhorbitant rates. While more no; of Medical College with hospitals are centered around southern districts of kerala, the north require balancing by one or two newer establishments.

[P.A.K.Menon]

The reason for the plight of Malabar is mainly because the peoples' representatives of this region were and still are either too nationalistic who cannot think regionally or too inefficient to fight for the cause of the region.Examples of the former are V.K.Krishna Menon,EMS,Nayanar,etc while there are umpteen examples for the latter. How long do we have to wait till a true leader who can earnestly work for the development of the region comes up?

[Deepak Balachandran]

Two distinctions need to be noted here: 1) An AIIMS is not just another institute of higher learning and 2) An institute of higher education in medicine has to be treated separately from one in any other field.

Regarding the first: An AIIMS is big enough to require a large city as its location, one that has a certain minimum of population and infrastructure, including an airport. Distribution of higher education is OK, but placing the very best ones in places without adequate infrastructure is not. I'm sure the locations in Germany and Japan that Dr. Stephen speaks about have airports.

The second: The direct benefit to the region of, say, an IIM is hardly comparable to that of a medical research and super-specialty institute. We are talking of saving lives and of making better healthcare more accessible. The distribution of advanced public sector medical facilities in Kerala is definitely skewed; more is needed in the north.

Both these factors, to me, spell C-A-L-I-C-U-T as the obvious location for an AIIMS.

Regarding Jayadeep's comments: The failure of Malabar to secure an adequate portion of the public spending pie is entirely due to the lack of endeavor and enterprise of its people. Crying babies get milk, and it's about time we started shouting ourselves hoarse.

This is not a simple, single-step procedure. Our legislators will lobby hard enough only if there is a sustained, vehement demand from their electorates on broad-based developmental issues. They should be pressurized enough never to forget the demands of the region at large, so that these are not the first things to be sacrificed during negotiations for power.

A case in point: Some fifteen years ago, I remember that Malappuram-registered vehicles had the lowest resale value. Today, it seems to be just the other way around, as it appears that Malappuram has the best roads and therefore the least worn-down vehicles. A very definite testament to the success of regional lobbying, even though it was not meant to be 'regional'; Malappuram, of course, being the stronghold of the Muslim League. The CPM today seems to have a sufficiently polarized northern lobby; maybe the Congress needs to split more often in the north with each splinter voicing its own demands, much like the Congress (A,B,C,..) do in the south.

[Dr Tom Li Stephen, PhD]

Now it is time to think about Kerala’s plan and strategies for states higher education sector. The state is a role model in education for rest of the country. But when I am looking for the facilities for higher education, Kerala is limping to other states.

The distribution of institutions for advanced educations is totally wrong as all of them are centered to Trivandrum. Examples are many. Advanced facilities in Trivandrum medical college, Sri Chithra, Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, RRL, Tropical botanical garden and many other institutions.

Cochin is also having moderately good institutions. However, Thrissur, Calicut and Kannur are far behind. I especially stress on Calicut. I believe the south or capital oriented policies as well as lobbying in our state must be changed. Simply, I did not understand the meaning for such a way of lobbying.

We should develop our state as a whole rather than developing its Capital or areas near by to TVM. Otherwise what happened to many of the north and south Indian states is going to happen to Kerala too. Most notably, in any way Trivandrum is not in a position to compete to Chennai, Bangalore, Bombay, Hyderabad, Calcutta or Delhi for a prominent status. Tvm is small. So better thing to do is we scatter our higher education system and get the development to each and every part of Kerala. Doing that will again make Kerala a role model for the rest of the states.

We can see examples of Germany and Japan for this kind of education system. Hence an advanced medical and research facility like AIIMS should go to Calicut or Kannur rather than TVM, Kottayam or Cochin.

[Jayadeep Thuvassery]

The southern parts of Kerala is about 15 yrs ahead in all developments compared to Malabar. Be it education, better roads, infrastructure and so on. But the productivity of the southern regions is way behind northern parts. Its mostly the exploitation of the funds from the middle east (earned by the workers of malappuram-calicut region) combined with channelizing the funds from the Centrallay Sponsored Schemes that has made this possible.

I will not be surprised if AIIMS status also gets grabbed by Tvm Medical College or other such institutions from the south.

I also think it is time to put an end to this sort of "Thallukollan Chendayum, Panam Vangan Maararum" setup. It is neither smart nor an achievement to grab whats is due to others.