The State government has officially issued the Essentiality Certificate required to upgrade the Asramam ESI Model and Super Speciality Hospital in Kollam into a full-fledged medical college.

The certificate carries a validity of three years and has been granted for the admission of 50 MBBS seats for the 2026–2027 academic year, said N.K. Premachandran, MP.

While this moves the long-awaited medical college project a significant step closer to reality, Mr. Premachandran alleged that the sheer stubbornness and severe administrative delays caused by the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government have thrown immediate admissions for this year into absolute uncertainty.

According to Mr. Premachandran, the previous administration intentionally withheld and delayed processing the certificate file right up until the final deadline set by the National Medical Commission (NMC) for submitting new applications.

“The State bureaucracy sat on the request despite direct personal interventions and appeals from the Director General of the ESI Corporation, which operates under the Central government. Despite exhaustive local and central efforts to secure the certificate before the final NMC screening date, the previous government’s anti-worker approach ultimately blocked Kollam from capitalising on the timeline. Following the recent change of guard and the assumption of power by the UDF government, the matter was immediately brought to the attention of the new Health Minister, K. Muraleedharan, who reviewed the file on a war footing and executed the time-bound steps necessary to finally release the certificate,” he said.

Regulatory hurdle

Even with the Essentiality Certificate now in hand, the project must cross another major regulatory hurdle before an application can be formally processed by the National Medical Commission — obtaining an official affiliation from the Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS). Since the standard closing date for submitting new medical college applications to the NMC has already lapsed, it is technically impossible to apply for standard permissions for the upcoming academic cycle.

“Nevertheless, the widespread structural discrepancies and ongoing controversies surrounding the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year are highly likely to cause nationwide delays in first-year MBBS admissions. We will strongly demand an evaluation of alternative windows or special extensions for application submissions at the ESI board meeting scheduled for the end of this month,” the MP said, adding that if even a remote technical loophole or possibility exists to kickstart the college sessions this year, all available channels will be utilised, and rigorous efforts will continue to ensure the facility opens without further structural delay.