The Medical Council of India approval for the Kochi Co-operative Medical College (CMC) is expected by February-March 2003, according to K N Raghavan, the chief executive officer of CMC.

He said the work on the operation theater and the labour room will be completed in January. "This is the minimum requirement for the IMC approval. But the approval will be subject to CMC completing work on the college building on the Kalamassery Campus in 18 months. The detailed plan for the operation theatre and the labour room, coming up at the General Hospital, has been approved and work expected to be completed in a month. The construction of building on the Kalamassery campus will be completed in 18 to 19 months, starting November," he said.

A pilot project will also be launched on the Kalamassery campus in January with out-patient, surgical, gynecological and pediatric wings. While currently the work on the buildings has been delayed due to labour problems, it is hoped that work on the first two blocks will be completed by June 2003.

The delay in construction work has resulted in from a dispute between the unloading workers from different areas, and the matter has been brought to the attention of DGP and labour commissioner, Dr. Hariharan, Principal of CMC said in a press conference here.