No need for more Medical Colleges in Kerala: IMA

At a time when the state government has embarked on a mission to set up medical colleges in all the districts, the Indian Medical Association, which is the largest group of medical professionals, has affirmed that there was no need for new medical colleges in the public as well as private sector and that the Non Objection Certificates for starting new colleges should be immediately withdrawn. 

The IMA has called for a detailed study by the government to see if there was a need for another medical college. The new revelations have been concluded in the preliminary report of the IMA on medical education sector in the state. ''The preliminary report of the Committee on Medical Education has been submitted and we would come out with a detailed report in the coming days,'' IMA state president Sreejith N Kumar said. 

Noting that a need based assessment should be done, he said that the government has to think of improving the treatment facility rather than setting up medical colleges. 

Committee Convenor and Kerala Government Medical College Teachers Association state president Dr K Mohanan said ''we have stated that there was no need for any medical college in the public as well as private sector till the available resources are utilised for the upgradation of the existing medical colleges. Apart from this, we also demand that the NOC given for setting up new medical colleges should be withdrawn.''

Mohanan said that most of the private medical colleges do not have the necessary infrastructure and adequate staff. These colleges situated in remote regions with only a few patients normally import patients during times of MCI inspection. Moreover, there are no permanent teachers and most of them work on daily wages and are paraded during the time of MCI inspection for getting recognition. ''All these show where the medical education system in the state is heading for,'' he said.

The IMA also recommends developing district and taluk hospitals instead of pumping in money for the medical colleges. ''If the government wants to provide the best treatment facility, it should not think of Medical colleges but should have to concentrate in augmenting the facilities at the primary level of treatment,'' the convenor said. The Association also calls for upgrading the district hospitals to super specialty hospitals and for development specialty care in the block level.

Coordinator Dr Vasudevan said that there was no deficiency of undergraduates in the state and the need of the hour is more specialisation. ''The focus should be on improving whatever we have and develop at least some of the centres as excellence of treatment units,'' he said. Vasudevan also said that the committee will be holding meetings in different parts of the state before the report is finalised.

source: The Newindian express

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/405614/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/29-12-2014#page/3/1

Public Health initiatve; IMA to adopt 100 villages

Thousands of doctors across the state will move to the villages in the next one year, giving fresh impetus to public health and community based programmes for building a healthy Kerala. The doctors under the banner of Indian Medical Association (IMA), which is adopting 100 villages, will focus more on lifestyle diseases and health awareness.

With the adoption of 100 villages in the state, the IMA, Kerala, is gearing up for new initiatives in public health sector and community based programmes, according to IMA state president Sreejth N Kumar. ''We have envisaged a programme – Arogyamaithri --under which 100 villages are being adopted. The focus will be on life style diseases, especially cardiovascular  
problems. Under the adoption programme, the focus will be on tobacco/blood pressure control, which is a major threat in all cardiovascular problems. We would give importance to awareness, detection and treatment of cardiovascular diseases through Arogyamaithri,'' he said.  Moreover, 

cancer screening and its awareness, which is already part of IMA's programme, will continue, he added.

As a first step, medical camps and health awareness programmes will be conducted at these villages. The IMA branches, which comes to 103, will be focussing on each village that comes under its jurisdiction, Sreejith said. 

Talking to Express, IMA Public Health Assurance Committee convenor Dr A Althaf said that the focus of Arogyamathri will be identification of health problems of the locality, health check ups and awareness campaigns. With life style diseases showing an alarming rise in the state, the adoption programme will focus on creating awareness, screening and treatment

Pointing out that the Association had about 27,000 members, he said ''all the active members, including specialty doctors, will participate in the Arogyamaithri programme. Though life style diseases, especially cancer, will be taken up initially, we would be focussing on the requirement of an area.'' He also mentioned that there would be active participation of experts, ward members, local MLA, local politicians and others in the programme. Noting that IMA had earlier also addressed public health issues, he said that it was for the first time that the Association was taking such an initiative related to public health in village level. 

Source The New Indian Express 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/400765/The-New-Indian-Express-Thiruvananthapuram/22-12-2014#page/5/1