The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has disposed of a petition as premature that sought a direction to the State government to include 11 new government medical colleges in the State in the counselling for admission to MBBS/BDS courses.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran (since retired) and B. Pugalendhi took note of the fact that the construction was going on, creation of infrastructure and equipment was in the process which was a prerequisite for the National Medical Mission approval. When this was the case, it was not expected to include the 11 colleges for counselling, the judges said and directed the State to take steps to create infrastructure such as construction of buildings, laboratories and equipment at the earliest.
Taking into account the fact that at least 16 to 20 private medical colleges were located in and around Chennai, the court observed that crowding the medical colleges in one area will not help the cause.
Once a medical college is established, it is not only for the benefit of medical students but also for treating the people of the particular region. Therefore, medical colleges must be established where there are none, the judges said.
The court was hearing a petition filed by K. R. Vasudevaa of Madurai. He sought a direction to the State to include the 11 new medical colleges in counselling. In 2020, the government announced 11 new medical colleges in Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Namakkal, the Nilgiris, Dindigul, Tiruppur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvallur, Ariyalur, Krishnagiri and Kallakurichi.
