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The T.D.Medical College is situated in the suburban
area of Vandanam, 9 km south of the Alappuzha (previously Alleppey) town, facing
the NH 47, in Alappuzha district of Kerala State, South India. The initials T.D.
stand for Thirumala Devaswom, which in Sanskrit means belonging to the Lord of
Thirumala, since this medical college was started in 1963 under the patronage of
the T.D.Temple at Anantha Narayana Puram of Alappuzha. Initially the management
of the college was done by the Kerala Cultural & Educational Society.
It was later brought under a trust called "T.D.Medical College Trust", which was
headed by the President of the Thirumala Devaswom. The day to day administration
of the college was done by the T.D.Medical College Administrative Council.
.N.V.Prabhu, Thoppil House, Alappuzha, the Honorary Secretary of this council,
was the driving force behind the starting of this medical college. A total of
145 acres of land was purchased at Vandanam, in the coastal belt for the future
development of the college campus, to include the hospitals, hostels,
residential quarters.
PERIOD OF PRIVATE MANAGEMENT :
This was the fourth medical college in the Kerala State, but the
first one to be started under private management. The foundation
stone for the college building at Vandanam was laid in March 1962
and the the first batch of 25 students were admitted to the
premedical course in the local arts college, the S.D.College, in
August 1962. Thus in August 1963 the first MBBS classes were started
for the first batch which consisted of 50 students. The T.D.Medical
College Trust was collecting a capitation fee of Rs.7500/- from the
students for admission to the medical college and an annual tuition
fee of Rs.500/- plus a special fee of Rs.250/-.
The Kerala Government had agreed to upgrade the District
Headquarters Hospital at Alappuzha and hand it over to the medical
college management, to be used as teaching hospital for the medical
students. Since the hospital facilities were not made available by
then for clinical teaching, the first batch of students were
transferred to other medical colleges in Kerala from their 2nd MBBS
onwards. From the second batch onwards medical students are trained
in the District Headquarters Hospital.
GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER :
Due to the objection raised by the Kerala University in running the
medical college in this state collecting capitation fee from the
students, the T.D.M.C. management ran into financial problems and
the Kerala Government came forward for their help and took over the
management of the institution from 17th October 1967 for a period of
five years initially, under an agreement executed between the
T.D.Medical College Trust and the Government. Since the T.D.Medical
College Trust did not come forward to take back the management of
the college at the end of the stipulated initial five year period,
as per conditions in the agreement, the college became vested with
the Government of Kerala from17th October 1972 and Government order
No.G.O.M.S.263/73/HD dt. 23rd October 1973 was issued accordingly.
Thus this became the 4th Government Medical College in the state.
Since no compensation whatsoever was paid to the T.D.M.C.management
by the Government during take over, the name T.D.Medical College is
still retained in the records.
Buildings :
In 1967 when the Government temporarily took over the management of
the medical college there were only two wings of the college
building in the ground floor constructed by the private management
at a cost of about Rs.8.8 lakhs. The central portion housing the
library in the ground floor and the auditorium in the first floor
were constructed by the Government at a cost of about Rs.13 lakhs,
which was completed in 1971. The construction of the remaining part
of the first floor was done after the medical college was taken over
by the Government.
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