(image for representation)
| Photo Credit: R.V. MOORTHY
A lacklustre debate on public health and the poor state of affairs in government medical college hospitals in Kerala in the State Legislative Assembly on Monday (March 24, 2025) saw the Opposition staging a walkout over the crisis that has gripped public health in the State and the government’s alleged complacency about it.
In his walkout speech, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan slammed the Kerala government for “resting on its laurels” and claiming that the State was “the number one” in health, while Kerala’s public health was going through a crisis like never before.
The leave for an adjournment motion was sought by P.C. Vishnunath, MLA, who cited several incidents that happened in the health sector recently, including incidents of alleged medical negligence, to demand that the House stop all proceedings to discuss the crisis in the health sector.
Mr. Vishnunath spoke about how the funds crunch and shortage of human resources were putting the health sector through a squeeze. Public sector hospitals were in dire straits “because of the crores of rupees the government owed” the hospitals as reimbursement for free treatment given under Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhati. Because of the funds squeeze and the huge amount that the government owed pharma companies, medicine procurement and supply by Kerala State Medical Services was in disarray and this has led to widespread shortage of medicines in all public hospitals, he said.
In the absence of Health Minister Veena George, who the Speaker said had been hospitalised due to health issues, Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh spoke on her behalf.
Isolated incidents: Minister
Reeling off figures to establish the investments made by the Left government in the health sector and statistical comparisons to justify that Kerala was far ahead of other States when it came to the developments in the health sector, Mr. Rajesh accused the Opposition of picking on isolated incidents to tarnish the entire health sector and the thousands of doctors and support staff who were “working tirelessly to keep the State’s flag flying high.”
Mr. Satheesan said that the number of enquiries ordered by the Health Minister into “isolated” incidents would run into volumes. He said the Kerala model of health and all the achievements made by the State in the sector had happened between 1947 and 1980, during which time,Left governments were in power in the State for only six years.
He pointed out that many emerging and re-emerging diseases were establishing themselves in Kerala and because of inadequate public health interventions, leptospirosis and water-borne diseases such as Hepatitis A continued to claim hundreds of lives. He questioned the priority that the Left government was giving to health when funding worth ₹300 crore to various health projects had been slashed in the State Budget.
Mr. Satheesan said the poor were not getting the care they need in public hospitals and were getting further impoverished when they turn to private hospitals. He said that in the post-COVID-19 years, death rate in Kerala appeared to have spiked, and so has morbidities. The government needed to launch a comprehensive study of the rising mortality rates and find if the phenomenon was due to COVID-19 or its vaccines.
The Opposition walked out in protest after the Speaker refused to grant leave for the adjournment motion.
Published – March 24, 2025 02:33 pm IST
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