V.R. Krishna Iyer, former judge of the Supreme Court, on Friday visited Cochin Medical College that is being taken over by the government. The jurist led the movement demanding the takeover of the hospital by the government. He told the students, teachers and other employees at the hospital that no one would be asked to leave the institution in the process of takeover.

The hospital will provide free treatment from Saturday and the staff are expecting a considerable increase in the number of patients. While everyone at the hospital welcomed the takeover, they expressed concern over the limited facilities and staff shortage.

Hebin Das, chairman of the students union, said the hospital should get CT scan machine and MRI machine urgently as these were expensive tests. Mr. Das said the process of integrating Alappuzha medical college into the government system was taking long. “Mr. Iyer’s team has assured us that they would press for expediting the process,” he added.

Writer M.K. Sanoo and K.R. Vishwambharan, former Vice Chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University, were part of the team that visited the hospital.

Special Officer for medical college takeover Junaid Rahman and college Principal P.R. Geetha received the guests.

Students from the nursing college and School of Nursing submitted memoranda to Mr. Iyer to press for their demand for government takeover of these two institutions. Dr. Rahman said a decision on the takeover of the institutions was expected in the next Cabinet meeting if general election was not declared by then.