Thiruvananthapuram: The state govt has officially named the second medical college in Thiruvananthapuram as K Karunakaran Memorial Medical College. Health minister K Muraleedharan said the decision to name the institution after the later Karunakaran was taken in recognition of the late chief minister’s contributions, having served four terms as CM, represented Thiruvananthapuram as an MP and served as an MLA from the district.The minister said assigning a proper name to the institution was more appropriate than referring to it simply as the ‘second medical college’. He added that steps to establish the new medical college are progressing. Recently, he urged the Centre to grant approval for the institution and facilitate student admissions during the current academic year.A govt order naming the institution was issued, paving the way for granting the essentiality certificate and certificate of undertaking required for starting the new medical college with an annual intake of 100 MBBS seats.The proposed medical college will be established by integrating Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital and Thycaud Women and Children Hospital into a single medical college hospital campus. The state had earlier furnished a certificate of undertaking to the erstwhile Medical Council of India, assuring that the necessary infrastructure, faculty and other mandatory facilities would be provided for the institution. However, no further action was taken at the time.The project received renewed momentum after the 2026-27 state budget announced the establishment of a second govt medical college in Thiruvananthapuram. Following the budget announcement, the director of medical education requested the govt to initiate urgent steps to obtain the essentiality certificate and certificate of undertaking required for the project.After examining the proposal in detail, the govt approved the issuance of the statutory certificates and officially named the institution K Karunakaran Memorial Medical College (KKMM).
