Medical College, Kottayam

Medical College Kottayam (MCK) is one of the five government financed medical colleges in the state of Kerala, located at the southern tip of India.

History
Medical College, Kottayam started functioning as the third of its kind in the state of Kerala in December 1962. The campus is located 8 kilometres north of Kottayam in Central Travancore. The College which was functioning in District Hospital, Kottayam from 1962 to 1970 was shifted to Arpookkara in April 1970 at the first stage. At the second stage in 1975 all the clinical departments were shifted to the Gandhinagar campus. The same year, the Children's hospital (Institute of Child Health) was taken over and added to MCK. A new B block (administrative block) was started in 1985. In 1996 the C block was added to the complex housing departments of Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology and also a full fledged library and computer and internet facilities.

Campus
The collegiate institutions attached to Medical College Kottayam are
 * Medical College Hospital (MCH),
 * Institute of Child Health (ICH),
 * Nursing College (CNK), Kottayam and
 * Medical College Health Center, Ettumanoor (KMCHC).

Through over 36 years the campus has grown into a small township with in house banking facilities, co-operative store, post Office, canteens, hotels, lodging facilities as well as subsidized hostels and accommodations for the faculty.

Facilities
The bed strength of the Medical College Hospital alone is 1101- although the Hospital frequently operates at 140-150% capacity. The present facilities available in the Hospital include: round the clock Casualty service, Blood Bank facility, modern lab and imaging services, colour doppler, TMT, holter monitor, haemodialysis, endoscopic & laparoscopic procedures, open heart surgery, specialised pain clinic under anaesthesiology, computerised pulmonary function lab under the Chest & TB dept, cardiac rehabilitation centre under Cardiology dept, specialised trauma care centre, advanced intensive care units for Surgery, Medicine, Cardiac services, Neuro-surgery & Plastic Surgery.

Courses offered
Main courses offered include MBBS (100 seats), Post Graduate and Super-specialties (77 seats), BDS, BSc. Nursing (50 seats) and other paramedical courses. Medical College Hospital is a multi bedded hospital with 450 Doctors and about 2000 staff members.

Medical College Kottayam is now recognized as one of the finest Medical schools in India. The House Surgeoncy Program has been acknowledged as a rigorous one with multiple training opportunities not readily available in some other Teaching Institutions &mdash; ensuring that graduates are well prepared for higher training. In fact, a majority of graduates go on to pursue PG courses- a very commendable fact given the very few seats available for such Higher training in the country. Alumni from the Medical School have gone on to prestigious careers &mdash; many opting to stay on and serve in their State. The excellence of the quality of Graduates from the Medical College is in part responsible for the surprisingly high quality of health care available in the Kottayam district and surrounding areas. Many have also achieved success in matching into Training Programs in the US and the UK.

Alumni association
Kottayam Medical College Alumni Association offers a well equipped computer lab and database search facility at MCK. It also offers CME courses regularly. MCK has now became the hub of Post Graduate Entrance Preparation studies &mdash; in fact, every year many hundreds of Medical Graduates descend into Kottayam to take advantage of the excellent PG Entrance courses provided by the faculty. There have even been graduates from nearby states coming to Kottayam for the Course, giving an idea of how far the fame of the course has spread.