Kochi Co-operative Medical College has been denied recognition by the Medical Council of India (MCI) after the recent inspection by its team. The MCI team had laid down guidelines, but the authorities of the Kochi-Co-operative Medical College never strived to fulfill them.

Students blamed that it is a game between the Cooperative Academy of Medical Education (CAPE), the Directorate of Medical Education, the Co-operative and Health Ministries. They also pointed out that if new batches were not started, the future of the students would be affected seriously with the institution losing its face.

Since the authorities are yet to get any official information regarding the report of MCI, nobody is sure about the reasons for the objection to sanction new admission of students, except for the issue of a partially constructed building. Every one is now banking on the second visit of MCI representatives to grant admission for 50 students as happened last year.

"There was no chance of the MCI team giving a positive report on the college, because the college is lacking several listed facilities" says a spokesperson of the Kochi Co-operative Medical College Union.

The main demand of the students is for a proper campus. The Medical College has been given space to operate Outpatient and Inpatients wings at Ernakulam General Hospital, but hardly any patients admitted there. "These wings do not have even the basic facilities like a labour room or an operation theater. No patients are admitted in these wards," he said.

The college authorities say that there were not many patients in the clinical wards of General Hospital at the time of MCI team visit. "The MCI's inspection was at a time when Onam was just over and there were not many patients in the clinical wards at the General Hospital," says Dr. S Hariharan, principal of the college, refuting the allegation that the wards were specially arranged to impress the team.

The authorities are blaming the government's lethargy for the poor hospital infrastructure at the MCI visit, which has resulted in the uncertainty.

"We were allotted a ward in General Hospital only a few days ago and the arrangements were being made for the clinical studies. The beds in the wards were in a dilapidated condition and we were bringing in new ones which took a longer time," says Dr. Hariharan. He is hopeful that college will manage to rectify the deficiencies in due time including the construction of the building within one year.

Meanwhile, the students of the Kochi Co-operative Medical College have begun an indefinite hunger strike in front of the Ernakulam General Hospital on Friday, demanding a solution to the vexed infrastructural problems of the college.

The students demand the formation of an overseeing body chaired by the co-operative minister to look into the development of the college. The body should comprise officials of Co-operative Academy for Professional Education (CAPE), officials from the cooperative sector, senior faculties of the Kochi medical college and student representatives. The body should be responsible for ensuring transparency and efficiency of the decisions taken regarding the development of the college.

Pointing out it as the greatest irony of the students to protest against the very system that they seek to establish, students union chairman Anoop Velayudhan said several of the decisions taken by the co-operative minister are yet to trickle down to the level of actual execution. "We have nobody to blame or find fault with. This agitation is to bring the plight of the students to the attention of the concerned authorities" he said. The agitation is not only on behalf of the 50 students who have been admitted but also for the next batch of 100 students who have cleared the entrance exams and cherish hopes of joining the medical fraternity.

The Union also demanded the urgent realization of all the MCI requisites including construction of a permanent college complex at the proposed site at Kalamassery at the earliest, appointment of the required teaching staff and setting up of necessary clinical facilities for the second year studies.

The decision of Chief Minister A K Antony, who is also the chairman of the Co-operative Academy for Professional Education (CAPE), to inaugurate Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday, September 14, 2002, has anguished the students. They said that the action of Chief Minister has come as the greatest blow to them. "It is unfortunate as it sends wrong signals to the students community as a whole and we register our strong protest" union chairman said in a statement.