Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has urged the government to expedite steps to enable the public to avail full benefits of a Government Medical College Hospital in the district.
In a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday, Mr. Gandhi said the setting up of a medical college under the public sector was a long-standing demand from the people of the backward district.
Under the Centrally sponsored Transformation of Aspirational Districts programme, medical colleges could be established by upgrading district or referral hospitals in aspirational districts, but no such institutions have been set up in the State under the initiative.
The programme aims at expeditiously improving the socio-economic status of 117 districts in the country. Wayanad is the lone district selected from the State for the scheme.
Mr. Gandhi said he had raised the issue in Parliament in February 2020 and was informed that Kerala was yet to submit a proposal under the programme.
The State government announced the upgradation of the Wayanad District Hospital at Mananthavady to a medical college in February 2021. It was learnt that the government had submitted a proposal in September 2021 to the Centre for establishing a medical college under the programme.
Moreover, the much-touted Wayanad package announced by the State proposed to set up a medical college at a cost of ₹600 crore.
However, despite these commitments, the project appears to be progressing at a slow pace. While faculty and staff members are being recruited, there has been little progress in developing physical infrastructure.
The Wayanad District Hospital is already reeling under the impact of over-extending its infrastructure and is faced with the additional responsibility of operationalising the medical college.
This has hampered the quality of service to patients at the district hospital. Hence, a quick intervention by the government was the need of the hour to provide quality medical education and healthcare to the people of Wayanad, Mr. Gandhi added.
