| Government Medical College, Trivandrum | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1951 |
| Type | Controlled by Government of Kerala. Exams are held by Kerala University of Health and Allied Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India and University of Kerala |
| Location | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
| Nickname | TMC |
| Affiliations | Indian Medical Council |
| Website | http://www.tmc.kerala.gov.in |
Trivandrum Medical College is located in Thiruvananthapuram city, the capital of Kerala state, India. It was founded in 1951, and was inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. This is the oldest and most prestigious medical college in Kerala. It is being upgraded to the status of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The medical college campus also houses several other hospitals and institutions including the College of Nursing, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum Dental College, Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Priyadarshini Institute of Paramedical Sciences and Sree Avittom Thirunal Hospital for women and children.
Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram is located in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram; 6 kilometers away from the Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station and KSRTC Central Bus Station. The college campus and the hospital lies to the west of Kumarapuram-Ulloor Road which has been renamed Dr. C.O. Karunakaran Avenue. Across the hospital is the Chalakuzhi road which meets the National Highway NH 47 near Pattom.
The Government of Travancore in 1948 appointed a committee to formulate proposals for starting a Medical College at Trivandrum. The Committee submitted its report and the scheme was sanctioned in October 1948. Dr. C.O. Karunakaran was appointed Special Officer for the implementation of the scheme and he went on to become the first Principal of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical college.
The College Campus has 139 acres (0.56 km2) of picturesque land with a number of hillocks surrounded by evergreen coconut groves and paddy fields, facing the sea which lies at a distance of three kilometers, and is located on the North – West border of the Trivandrum city. The College, is linked with the different sections of the city by bus routes, is very near the national highway NH 47 and the nearest railway station is just few kilometers from the college. The topographical layout and the architectural designs were prepared by Mr. J.A. Ritchie from Bombay. The College and the hospital buildings are separated by playgrounds for football, hockey, a cricket pitch, courts for tennis, basketball, badminton and volleyball and a 400 meter track.
The foundation stone of the College was laid by His Highness the Raja Pramuk of Travancore – Cochin at 11:45 AM on 26-01-1950. The first batch of students was admitted in August 1951. The College was formally inaugurated by Shri. Jawaharlal Nehru at 8:00 AM on 27th Nov. 1951. In January 1952, the Sri. Avittom Thirunal Hospital ( SATH ) was inaugurated by Smt. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. In 1952, men's hostel and 1year later women's hostel was also inaugurated. The Medical College Hospital was inaugurated by Shri. Jawaharlal Nehru on 1954.
The School of Nursing(http://www.contvm.org) was inaugurated by Her Highness Sethu Lakshmi Bai in 1954 and upgraded to College of Nursing in 1963. The Cancer block was inaugurated in 1958 and later after two decades the [1] Regional Cancer Centre], one of the premier cancer care centers in South India was established. The Dentistry course and the first post-graduate course commenced in 1959.
The sixties saw the establishment of library. The limb center, Mental hospital and Ophthalmic hospital were brought under Medical College administration. Later in nineties the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology came into existence. Over the years, the campus saw establishment of Sree Chitra Thirunal Centre, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Priya Darsini Institute of Paramedical Sciences, Silver Jubilee Auditorium and the Various hostels. The institution has thus grown to glorious proportions.
It is financed and administrated by Health and Family welfare Department, Govt. of Kerala. The Medical College is affiliated to the University of Kerala.. Trivandrum Medical College is the first medical college in Kerala. The college started with an annual admission of 60 students, which was increased to 200 in 1983. Now it is ranked among the top 20 medical colleges in the country.
A super-specialty block with state-of-the-art technology and modern equipments, exclusively housing all the medical and surgical super-specialties of the college, has been completed and has started functioning as the OP block of the super-specialties from July 1, 2010. It was funded under the Prime Minister's Swasthya Bheema Yojna scheme and by the State government. The 253-bed SS block, spread over 160,000 sq ft (15,000 m2) on seven floors, houses the outpatient clinics and inpatient wards of the six super specialties, eight operation theatres, 29-bed six intensive care units, haemo dialysis unit and renal transplant unit, apart from administrative blocks. Full fledged functioning of the complex will commence after its proposed dedication to the nation by the Prime Minister.
A newly constructed out-patient block for the broad specialties has also been opened to the public.
The college is headed by Principal Prof. Dr.Ramdas Pisharady and the Vice Principal Prof. Dr.K.R Vinayakumar. The hospital is administered by the Medical Superintedent Dr.A.Mohandas.
Major Institutions and units under Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram are as follows:-
In addition to MBBS course, PG degree and diploma courses in 22 specialities, super specialty courses in 10 specialties etc. are conducted in this institution. The institute is under the University of Kerala and presently being shifted under the wings of KUHS Kerala University of Health Sciences.
The premiere institution for the provision of comprehensive tertiary health care irrespective of economic or social status and disabilities. It is the largest multi-specialty hospital in South Kerala serving the major portion of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam districts and adjacent districts of Tamil Nadu. It is administered by a Superintendent. The hospital consists of the main hospital block, Trauma care, Casualty, Out Patient Department Block, Super specialty block, KHRWS Pay wards and Administrative block. This 3000 bedded hospital admits 80,000 patients a year and provides over 75,00,000 OP consultation. The newly constructed OP block houses Out-patient wings of Medical and Surgical specialties, pharmacy, Office of the Superintendent of the hospital, quarters of the House Surgeons and Post graduates.
Inaugurated in 1952, the hospital services are confined to women, mothers and children under 12 years of age. It was built by the Royal family in memory of Prince Sree Avittom Thirunal who died at a tender age. The hospital houses the Departments of Obstetrics-Gynecology and Pediatrics. Super specialty care in Pediatrics including Cardiology, Neurology, Nephrology, Surgery and Psychiatry are under the wings of SAT Hospital. It has one of the highest rates of deliveries in Kerala.
The Superspecialty block inaugurated in 2011 houses 6 super-specialties including Nephrology, Urology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Medical and Surgical gastroenterology and their Out-patient and In-patient wings with 40 ICU beds, 25 high-care beds, 6 modular theaters. A liver transplant theater is to be constituted soon which would be first-of-its-kind in the government sector.
Located around 4 km away from the main campus, RIO is housed near the General Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. It was started as a Government Ophthalmic hospital in 1906 and later raised to the status of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology by the Government of India under National Programme for Control of Blindness in 1995. When the Government Medical College was started, the Ophthalmic hospital was brought under the college despite being in an off-campus location. The Director of this autonomous institution is Dr. P.S. Girija Devi. In addition to Post Graduate Courses in Ophthalmology, a 4 years Bachelors Degree course in Optometry is also offered here. Specialized services including a Retina Clinic, Glaucoma Clinic and a Cataract clinic are among the provisions here.
The primary health care unit is under the Department of Community Medicine of Trivandrum Medical College and is located at Pangappara a few kilometers away from the main campus.
Child Development Centre (CDC), Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram is an autonomous centre established by the Government of Kerala with the intention of bringing up the centre as an autonomous centre of excellence in Early Child Care & Education, Adolescent Care & Education, Pre-marital Counselling, Women’s Welfare and other related fields. It has given significant contributions in reducing childhood disabilities and has devised the Trivandrum Development Chart which is widely used to assess child development in community settings.
The Mental Health Center is located in Oolampara, Peroorkada and is under the administration of the college. With more than 150 inmates it is the second largest mental health center in India. In addition to treatment facilities, a rehabilitation center has also been established by the aid of Hindustan Latex Limited.
It has currently been taken over by the Department of Respiratory Medicine. Located in Pulayanarkota it was initially constructed for isolation of tuberculosis patients. Currently, the Respiratory Medicine department functions here except for the Out Patient Department which is in the OPD block itself.
Currently an Autonomous Institution and is the premiere institution for provision of dental care, maxillo-facial surgeries etc. in the state. (Principal - Dr. N O Varghese MDS) http://www.gdctvm.net
Established in 1967, it is the first Pharmaceutical college in Kerala and offers Bachelor, Masters Degree and Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Departments of Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Microbiology works under the college. Medical College toxicology lab, Animal lab and Medicinal garden are the other facilities.
Priyadarsini Institute of Para Medical Sciences is also located in the Medical College campus offering para medical courses.
Established in 1954 as a school of Nursing, it was later upgraded to the status of a College of Nursing offering 4 year B.Sc Nursing courses. A Nursing superspecialty block has been constituted in 2011.presently college offers the following courses
The functioning of center is mainly for the provision of rehabilitation services for amputees and was established in 1975.
The Central Library is housed at the block containing various administrative offices including the Principal's office. It is equipped with books, journals and periodicals of academic nature relating to medicine and allied sciences. The library also subscribes to two English dailies, The Hindu and The New Indian Express, along with a Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. The Learning Resource Center(LRC) is located within the library and contains internet-enabled computers that students and staff can use for a nominal fee. The LRC also subscribes to certain online medical journals. The Learning Resource Center was established by the Alumni Association of the college.
With the contributions from the alumni of the college, an information center was established in the hospital which provides all information regarding the facilities available in the hospital as well as clears any doubts regarding prescriptions or drugs.
The courses offered by the institute are:
The Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram is the principal agency in emanating the Kerala model Kerala Model of health care. The establishment of the college and hospital was a fulfillment of popular ambitions and paved way for the rise of Kerala in the health sector. Kerala since then has maintained health indices at par with the developed nations, well above the national averages. This achievement has been researched and studied by multiple agencies for copying in other states of India as well as under-developed nations.
The institution has been upgraded to the status of All India Institute of Medical Sciences due to its unique achievements and as an important tertiary care-provider to the southern parts of India.
Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram has been one among the two breakthrough colleges and has found a place among the top 25 colleges in the country; currently ranked 21 in the India Today India Today survey. The college and hospital has been consistently able to maintain its high quality standards despite the enormous number of patient admissions and low-cost treatment facilities. Expertise of the faculty and able administration with aids from the Central and State governments have helped maintain this status. Though academically well acknowledged it has been lagging behind in the research field perhaps due to the lack of awareness and increased importance given to clinical sector.
SAT Mix which was devised by the doctors and nutritionists of SAT hospital is used throughout India for the management of childhood malnutrition. It is a cost effective measure in reducing infant mortality rates.
Trivandrum Development Chart is a scale for the assessment of child development based on 17 characters. It was devised by the Child Development Center and is recommended for use in community developmental assessment.
The institution is among the 15 prestigious ones selected across the country to be connected through the National Knowledge Network under the National Knowledge Commission for integration of its knowledge database with global scientific community.
The institution conducts the international conclave, Erudite Conclave, the first of its kind in this part of the world,in November 2011 to provide momentum to medical research fields. Speakers included Nobel laureate in Medicine, Dr. Rolf M. Zinkernagel; Ophthalmologist and inventor of inexpensive intraocular lenses, Dr. Sanduk Ruit; founder of the SRISTI and techpedia.in, Anil K Gupta and several other distinguished speakers from various fields.