MCI's Letter of intent to SUT Medical College delayed

It is the infighting in the Medical Council of India (MCI) which has led to the denial of the letter of intent to the SUT Medical College, according to sources.

Though the last meeting of the MCI had sanctioned the letter of intent to the Gokulam Medical College, Venjaramoodu, the decision on the letter of intent to the SUT Medical College was postponed to the next meeting.

The Gokulam Medical College has been sanctioned 50 seats for the MBBS course for the academic year 2005-06.

An inspection team of the MCI had also visited the SUT Medical College recently in this connection. The State Government and the Kerala University had already issued NOCs to the SUT Medical College.

‘Dr K.N. Pai Thiruvananthapuram.doc,’ one of the files reportedly sent by the Medical Council of India (MCI) secretary A R N Setalvad to MCI former president Ketan Desai for his perusal, is likely to be the one pertaining to the application of the SUT Medical College at Vattappara here.

This website’s newspaper had reported on Wednesday that the Health Ministry may order an inquiry into the alleged corruption involving the MCI secretary. Ketan Desai was earlier removed from the post of the MCI president owing to his alleged corrupt practices.

However, he is allegedly having control over the functioning of the MCI through Setalvad. ‘Dr K.N. Pai Thiruvananthapuram.doc’ was one of the attachments in an e-mail sent by Setalvad to Desai.

The Dr K N Pai Heart Foundation is a charitable trust established under the SUT Hospital to extend advanced medical facilities to the poor. The SUT Medical College is set up under the K N Pai Heart Foundation.

Responding to this, SUT Hospitals Managing Director Dr.C.Bharath Chandran said that he was unaware of the issue. “The file may be pertaining to our application. But we are not at all party to this controversy,” he said.

MCI acting president Dr Kesvan Kutty Nair, when contacted by this website’s newspaper, said that he was unaware of the issue.