THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Will Kerala lose one of its medical colleges in the coming days? Looks so.
With the state government alleged to have violated the conditions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with ESIC concerning the Paripally Medical College (MC), a majority of the MC’s board members have called for taking back the institute from the state government.
In the board meeting on December 6, stakeholders and trade union members said the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) should take back the MC which was taken over by the state government. The board also decided to seek the opinion of the Law Ministry on this.
The state government had taken over the MC via a government order dated December 1, 2015. An MoU was signed between the state government and ESIC in October, 2015. ESIC board member V Radhakrishnan said a majority of the stakeholders and trade union members were of the opinion the MC should be taken back from the state government.
“The state government has violated the MoU. It has not provided the facilities promised to employees who avail ESI benefits. Though a separate block for ESI members was promised, the government failed to provide it. The issues were raised in the meeting. In general, the members felt the MC be retained under ESIC,” he said.
K Suresh Babu, another member, said the same. “The board meeting decided to seek the opinion of the Law Ministry on the taking over the MC,” Babu told ‘Express’.
The meeting gains significance as it is the first one after the Delhi High Court on October 14 ruled against the takeover of Paripally MC by the state government. Radhakrishnan said the members felt ESIC, which spent more than `500 crore on the college can also run it.
‘’The MC was built using employees’ money. The members said ESIC can run the MC if it was also opened to the public,” Radhakrishnan and Babu said.
“Trade union members had opposed the taking over of the MC when the matter was brought up for discussion in earlier meetings.
They had asked ESIC to manage it. But ESIC went ahead with the transfer. Now, the board has taken the matter seriously after it was found the MoU was violated,” they said. Health Minister K K Shylaja was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.