HC: Make 3 med colleges centres of excellence

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has directed the Centre to expeditiously take an appropriate decision on the LDF government’s request to include three Staterun medical colleges here as centres of excellence for treatment of rare diseases.

A Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly said if the Centre takes a favourable decision on the request, children and others suffering from rare diseases could be treated within the State of Kerala and there could be sufficient contribution from the Central government as well.

The three institutions mentioned in the request are the Government Medical College Hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Kozhikode. While issuing the direction, the High Court observed that the State government has not created awareness on the special account created for treatment of children suffering from rare diseases so that more contributions from the general public can come in.

It observed that it was a sorry state of affairs that none of the corporate companies came forward.