Activists have been calling for a palliative care hospital and rehabilitation village
Activists have been calling for a palliative care hospital and rehabilitation village
The 58-year-old mother and her 28-year-old daughter found dead in their house at Panathady village in Kasaragod has brought back the focus on problems and challenges facing families of endosulfan victims.
Not the first
This is not the first case. Eight years ago, an endosulfan victim, affected by cancer, allegedly ended his life when his name failed to appear in the list of victims affected by the agrichemical.
While the Opposition has termed the deaths as government-sponsored, activists feel that better infrastructure facilities, including palliative care hospitals, setting up of rehabilitation villages, and the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission are yet to be implemented.
K.K. Ashokan, secretary of the Confederation of Endosulfan Victims’ Rights Collective, said the mother was under huge stress after her endosulfan-affected daughter was sent back from the special school at Parappa. “Had there been a palliative care hospital, the problems faced by them could have been addressed,” Mr. Ashokan said.
In need of support
Endosulfan victims and families continue to face social isolation, and they need palliative care, Mr. Ashokan said.
M.A. Rahman, an activist, said the demand for a palliative care hospital and an endosulfan victims rehabilitation village was yet to be met. Incidentally, the district has over 10,000 patients. “They suffer depression, financial problems, and social boycott in silence,” he added.
Even the demand to convert the Tata Trust COVID-19 hospital into a palliative care centre has not been considered yet, he said.
Former Health Minister K.K. Shylaja had laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the endosulfan rehabilitation village in Mulliyar panchayat. It was then promised that the work would be completed in 10 months. However, there has been no progress, he said.
Court intervention
It was only on the intervention of the Supreme Court that the State government has begun procedures to pay complete solatium to the victims. Taking cognisance of the problems facing the victims, the court had also agreed to take a separate case on the need for a palliative care hospital in Kasaragod for endosulfan victims.
