The Kerala Cabinet on December 20 (Wednesday) created 270 additional posts in the Medical Education department to staff the super speciality units in government medical college hospitals with an adequate number of proficient doctors.
The majority are teaching posts, an estimated 262. The doctors will staff super speciality units at government medical college hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram (25), Kollam (29), Konni (37), Alappuzha (8), Kottayam (4), Ernakulam (43), Idukki (50), Thrissur (7), Mancheri (15), Kozhikode (9), Kannur (31) and Kasaragod (1).
Centre of Excellence in Microbiome
The Cabinet also announced the formation of a Centre of Excellence in Microbiome. Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC), Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology will partner.
The proposal to set up a microbiome research centre was included in the 2022-23 State Budget.
The government proposes to develop the centre as a global facility that can take up interdisciplinary research, cross-domain interactions and development of innovative products.
The possibilities of Big Data technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) and IT data analytics will be utilised to create a spatio-temporal map of the microbiome. For higher research into the microbiome and to understand the interactions between microbiota (the living microorganisms found in a defined environment), a genomic database will be built.
