A senior government doctor’s social media post citing shortages of medical equipment has triggered a storm in Kerala while exposing the state’s vaunted model healthcare system. Dr Harris Chirakkal, head of the urology department at the well-known Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, in his post, that he has since removed apparently at the behest of a relative who is close to the CPM, said three-fourth of all elective surgeries are being postponed because of lack of equipment and patients even have to procure their own supplies. He hinted at corruption in the supply chain and said a vigilance probe would expose many irregularities. His allegations were latched on to by the opposition Congress that described Kerala’s public healthcare system as being on ‘ventilator support’. The pushback from the CPM and the government was immediate with a firm denial of the charges. The public and media furore, however, forced the government to order a probe. In a remarkable flip flop, health minister Veena George described Dr Harris as a hard-working professional. Soon after, however, there was a government and CPM offensive against the respected doctor led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who said the allegations of an individual did not represent the reality. He claimed the state’s healthcare was the best in the country and cited several instances of excellent responses to critical medical situations. He said a negative narrative was being created to target his government. His party colleagues even accused Dr Harris of being mentally volatile. This has been the typical response of the Left government to any criticism of its policies. The person raising queries is always branded as anti-CPM and hounded by the party cadre. The doctor himself admitted that what he had done amounted to professional suicide but said he could not stay quiet any longer as he was committed to the public health system. Ironically, rarely does the Chief Minister, or any minister in his cabinet, visit government hospitals for treatment, preferring to opt for private hospitals in other states or abroad.
Though Kerala was lauded for its efficient handling of the Nipah virus epidemic as well as the Covid 19 pandemic, both during the tenure of the previous health minister, Shailaja, in recent years there have been incidents of gross negligence by healthcare professionals. Then the horrific rape of a patient in the ICU of the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital comes to mind. According to a CAG report, there is only one doctor per 5158 patients in the Thiruvananthapuram district. The figures are not much better for other districts, this when more than 4000 doctors pass out of the 33 private and government medical colleges in the state every year. Dr Harris’ revelations should serve as a wake-up call for the government, and he should not be hounded for spelling out uncomfortable truths. It is heartening that the doctors’ association and the general public are backing him to the hilt. The state government would do well to introspect on the defects of the public health system instead of imagining a witch-hunt. There is no doubt that Kerala has better public healthcare than several other states, but the aim should be excellence, not mediocrity.
