From allegations of bringing in fake patients to complaints regarding lack of facilities, the SR Medical College and Research Centre in Thiruvananthapuram’s Varkala is now facing charges of producing fake documents from the panchayat, granting permission to construct buildings on the campus and for forging the signature of the Panchayat Secretary.
The irregularities of the medical college started making news after the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) visit to the college for inspection earlier this month was cancelled following clashes between the students and the college management. The students, during the MCI’s visit to the campus on July 4, had gathered to inform the team that the college management had brought in people from outside to create an impression that there are plenty of patients in the hospital.
Following this incident, several other malpractices of the college came to light, including the fact that the college had not received permission from the Cherunniyoor Grama Panchayat to construct buildings for the college. TNM had earlier obtained a circular from the Grama Panchayat, which stated that “the Cherunniyoor Grama Panchayat has not given permission to the SR Education and Charitable Trust to construct buildings for a medical college.”
The college management, on the other hand, denied these charges and stated that they had obtained permission from the panchayat in 2015.
TNM contacted Navaprakash, the president of the Cherunniyoor Grama Panchayat, who said that the panchayat permit that the college management presented was fake. “When they stated that they got the permission from the panchayat, which we have not given, we naturally asked them to show us the documents,” said Navaprakash.
He added that all permits given by the panchayat will have a signature of the Panchayat Secretary. “The Panchayat Secretary’s signature in the document provided by the college was not the same as the signature of the Panchayat Secretary-in charge at the time. Also, in the document, it states that they got permission from ‘akathumuri panchayat’. However, Akathumuri is not a panchayat but a village under the Cherunniyoor panchayat,” said Navaprakash.
Following this, the Cherunniyoor panchayat filed a complaint with the Varkala Police station against the college a few weeks ago. Following the police complaint, the case is now going on at a magistrate court in Varkala.
Meanwhile, on July 16, a group of students from the college visited P Sathasivam, the Governor of Kerala, to inform him about the irregularities in the college and to raise their concerns about their education. Speaking to TNM, Sidharth, one of the students who met the Governor, stated that the Governor has sought an immediate report from the Health Ministry as well as the University of Kerala regarding the situation in college.
On June 4, the Kerala High Court had ordered the MCI to conduct an inspection in the College within a month to check whether the college has improved its facilities and infrastructure.
The college management, on July 9, had issued a show-cause notice to six students of the 2016 batch (the only batch so far) for allegedly disrupting the Medical Council of India’s inspection on the campus and for allegedly violating the ‘rules and regulations’. Sidharth was one of the six students.
“But the MCI had informed the Kerala High Court that it was the college management that asked them to cancel the inspection. So we are off the hook for now,” a relieved Sidharth tells TNM.;
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