The FB post by the Head of Urology department at Thiruvananthapuram Govt Medical College, which laid bare the systemic maladies that affected the functioning of public sector hospitals in the State, has forced the Health Minister to acknowledge the doctor’s honest stance and to even back him.
The Opposition meanwhile, has been quick to escalate the issue, with the Leader of the Opposition, V.D. Satheesan, pointing out that the doctor’s FB post was just the proof of what the Opposition has been saying all along and which the government has refused to heed.
The KPCC president Sunny Joseph, said that the District Congress Committees would lead protest marches to all Government Medical Colleges in the State on July 1 and stage dharnas demanding that the public sector hospitals be saved.
A day after the FB post by the Urology Head of Department Haris Chirackal made headlines, Health Minister Veena George said that she acknowledged the doctor’s comments about the systemic issues affecting the day-to-day functioning of Medical Colleges and that a detailed enquiry would be held into all aspects of the problem that Dr. Haris had raised.
Ms. George said that Dr. Haris was known to be honest and hardworking. She went on to say that overcrowding was one of the reasons why public hospitals were unable to render healthcare services efficiently and that the government was trying its best to resolve the systemic issues by improving the infrastructure and human resources
She said that a four-member committee would be asked to investigate the delay in the purchase of equipment, which had led to the cancellation of a scheduled procedure in the Urology department on Friday. Dr. Haris has said that he had been knocking at all doors for months, including the office of the Health Minister, raising the issues related to the dearth of equipment in his department but that he was unable to make his pleas heard.
The Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said that he had raised various issues in the health sector in the Assembly in January, including how the inefficient management of Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhati was taking a toll on public hospitals. However, Ms. George had been dismissive of all the issues he had raised, he said.
The UDF will hold a health conclave in July by getting together all public health experts, he added
Published – June 29, 2025 08:52 pm IST
