Former Health Ministers accuse govt. of corporatising public health sector

Women leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)  and former Health Ministers P.K. Sreemathy, K.K. Shailaja and Veena George have accused the government of corporatising the State’s public health sector and paving the path of destruction of the public health system which had been nurtured by the Left Democratic Front governments over the past 10 years.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, they accused Health Minister K. Muraleedharan of trivialising the issues in the sector and handling the department affairs without the diligence it deserved.

They claimed that the gains made by the public health sector in the past 10 years in building infrastructure and systems, including the dramatic changes made in primary healthcare service delivery through Aardram, were under serious threat of being dismantled under the present United Democratic Front government.

The former Ministers demanded that an inquiry be conducted into how the drug for “clinical trials” came to be given to spinal muscular atrophy(SMA)-afflicted children through SAT Hospital and that the proof of the quality of the generic drug for SMA manufactured by Natco and its technical evaluation report findings be brought in the open.

They also demanded that Mr. Muraleedharan explain why he was holding court with the representatives of Natco in his office, when the cardinal rule is that the Minister should have no direct dealings with a pharma firm.

They expressed concern over the fact that the task force set up by the UDF government to develop an action plan for healthy ageing, with the broader objective of establishing a “Kerala Holistic Model for Health, Wellness and Longevity,” would be the first step towards opening up the State’s public health sector for private players.

They pointed out that the task force did not include any health experts from Keralam and that the Health department was not at all involved in the preparation of the presentation made at the meeting of the task force.

“The task force is headed by former Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Deepak Singhal, who is said to be facing corruption allegations. What is his contribution in public health? When the State has a strong public health network and infrastructure, why do we need to bring in a PPP model in health? This is blatant corporatisation of the health sector, with the government laying out the red carpet for corporates to invade public health system,” Ms. Shailaja said.

She said that even the committee set up to design the Oommen Chandy health insurance scheme was populated with people whose experience was in handling private health insurance.

Murali sticks to stance

Meanwhile, Mr. Muraleedharan said in Kozhikode that he did not need the “good certificate” from the former Ministers. “Those three had destroyed the Health department. I have scant regard for their opinions,” he said. Mr. Muraleedharan said that those three people “can sit at home” for the next five years as the UDF would rule the State.

About the controversy related to the medicine being given to SMA patients, he said that the government was providing a better generic version of the drug whose cost was much lesser than the previously given one. “As long as I am in the chair, the foreign company’s drug will not be used here,” he said.