T.D.Medical college Alappuzha

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Starting a new topic "A probe in to Aneesh's Death" with all the news paper cuttings...Please post your opinions ....

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[b]Medico's death: legal notices served on 6 persons [/b]

The HINDU

KOLLAM March 26. The former Chathannur MLA, N. Anirudhan, has sent legal notices to six respondents in connection with the `unnatural' death of his only son, A.S. Anish, a final year medical student at the T.D. Medical College, Alappuzha.

Those served with the legal notice are the registrar of the University of Kerala, Rajan, the principal of the T.D. Medical College, Alappuzha, Dalus, the chief examiner for the final year MBBS examination, 2001-2002, Ramakrishnan and Sujathan, external examiners for the same examination, and the Chief Secretary, Chandrashekharan Nair.

The notice holds that the mental torture and harassment at the hands of those in charge of the examination had resulted in Anish's death. A final year MBBS student at the Alappuzha Medical College, it was after attending the medicine clinical examination on April 3 last year that Anish went missing. Four days later, Mr. Anirudhan received a phone call from a Coimbatore police station that his son's body had been found in a lodge there and that it was a suicide.

The notice states that an extensive enquiry into the whole episode was conducted by Mr. Anirudhan since foul play was suspected and it was through it that he learnt about the mental torture and harassment endured by his son at the hands of the examiners.

The notice also cites various grounds, witnessed especially at the Alappuzha Medical College, to hold the allegation that examiners target students for harassment. Comments like `you are not fit for this course' and `better search for some other job' were made by one of the examiners against Anish, the notice points out.

He was last seen by his friends leaving the hall in dejection and when he did not attend the evening session of the examination, his friends became worried. They then informed Mr. Anirudhan. The notice sent through his advocate, R. Sivadasan, states that Mr. Anirudhan is entitled to exemplary damages as well as initiating legal proceeding against the respondents as a deterrent measure. He is also claiming Rs. 20 lakhs as damages.

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Medical college teachers refute panel finding

ALAPPUZHA JUNE 25. The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) has refuted the finding of a Legislative sub-committee that the suicide of Anish, a student of Alappuzha Medical College, was due to torture by examiners.

At a press conference here today, the association State president, S. Tennyson, said that Anish had committed suicide out of stress.

According to the association leaders, though Anish had scored good marks in the theory examination, he had fared badly in the case study, i.e. diagnosis of ailments of a patient. According to the association office-bearers, the student, who realised this, committed suicide out of desperation.

The association leaders also demanded timely revision of salaries and working conditions of teachers and doctors of medical colleges.

According to them, a large number of doctors who pass out of medical colleges opt to work in private multi-specialities owing to better salary and working conditions there.

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Medicos resent internal assessment

ALAPPUZHA SEPT. 5. The student community seems to be sore over the existing internal assessment system in various medical colleges in the State.

While demanding a probe into the death of a student, the students at the Alappuzha Medical college said they believed that the situation which led to his alleged suicide was an outcome of the flawed internal assessment system coupled with the rigid attitude of a section of teachers. The students complained that the suicide of five students at the Alappuzha Medical College over a period of five years was a result of this.

A section of teachers at the college often use the results of internal examinations to harass students whom they dislike, alleged the SFI State president, T. V. Rajesh.

The Medicos Association president, Sajeesh, noted that a good number of first year MBBS students were being denied the opportunity to write the university examinations because of the existing stipulation that only those students who score 50 per cent marks in the internals could write the university examinations.

Mr. Sajeesh noted that at present the internal assessment was being calculated as a percentage of marks scored in various examinations held in the college and assessed internally. He noted that the chances of bias of teachers is more in the internal examination.

In the present system of internal assessment, if a student failed to perform well in one or two examinations, it would ruin his career, he noted. "Out of personal reasons, a good number of students may find it difficult to perform consistently,'' he added.

Often a large number of students who did not get the stipulated marks approach courts to get permission to write the university examination, he noted. Mr. Sajeesh pointed out that more than 20 students were denied opportunity to write the university examination at the Alappuzha Medical College. "The situation is similar at the Kozhikode Medical College also,'' he said.

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KGMCTA expresses concern

Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM June 23. The Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) has expressed concern in the alleged move to turn highly specialised examinations being conducted by Medical Colleges into subjects for controversy, as it would affect the very credibility of the profession.

Referring to the controversies over last year's examinations conducted by the Kerala University at the Alappuzha Medical College and the suicide of one of the medical students there, the KGMCTA leaders said that their inquiry into the matter had found that the teachers were not guilty. The Association has suggested concerted effort on the part of the Government, teachers and the parents to avoid such unfortunate incidents in future.

Referring to the move to impose a medical cess by the state government as part of the new policy initiatives, the Association leaders said such moves would send a wrong signal to all concerned. Instead of imposing separate cess for every service being provided by the State, the Government should meet the expenses from the general tax revenue, they said.

Expressing concern at the erosion of social commitment on the part of some of the private medical colleges, the Association said they were with the Chief Minister who wanted to ensure 50 per cent of the seats for students from the merit list, that too at the same rate of fee as being imposed by government medical colleges. They also called for an immediate solution for the confusion existing in the private medical colleges with regard to admission and fee structure.

The medical college teachers asked the authorities to ensure that the medical college hospitals to be tertiary referral centres so as to ensure quality service to the needy. They also wanted more autonomy for the medical colleges.

The Association leaders made a fervent call to fill up the vacancies existing in the Government Medical Colleges. According to them, nearly 30 per cent of the posts were lying vacant and this has created a serious crisis in the medical education sector. The large majority of these vacancies were at the entry cadre and the Government should fill the posts through recruitments through the PSC, they said. They also called for the regular meeting of the departmental promotion committee so that the vacancies in the higher cadres like associate professor and assistant professor would be filled on time.

New office-bearers: S. Abdul Khaddar (Calicut Medical College), president, Tigy Thomas Jacob (Kottayam), general secretary, Abraham Kallivayalil, treasurer, T. K. Gopalakrishnan Nair (Editor), Sherly Vasu (Kozhikode), M. V. Suresh (Thrissur), T. U. Sukumaran (Kottayam), D. Karthikeyan (Alappuzha) and B. K. Madhumohan (Thiruvananthapuram), (vice-presidents); G. Rajan (Kozhikode), P. S. Vasudevan (Thrissur), Varhgese V. Punnose (Kottayam), R.V. Ramlal (Alappuzha). K. S. Manoj (Thiruvananthapuram), joint secretaries. They will take oath at the 35th annual conference of the Association scheduled at Alappuzha on June 29, they said.