To say Kerala’s celebration of success against COVID-19 was premature is wrong, given the way it kept the active caseload curve flat and mortality at India’s lowest [0.4%] all along, asserts Health Minister and CPI(M) central committee member K.K. Shylaja.
“When the pandemic struck, there were two choices in front of humanity. To allow the virus to run its round so that herd immunity is achieved or do everything scientifically possible to contain the spread, delay peaking and use that time to augment infrastructure. Herd immunity comes at a cost, as we have seen in other States and globally. Ours is a society with 15% elderly people, high comorbidities and high density of population; allowing the virus to spread would’ve been disastrous. So, we opted for the second model and decided to contain it,” says Ms. Shylaja in an interview with The Hindu in Aluva on Monday.
“We took up the challenge as we believe in science. We were sure that a vaccine would be ready sooner or later and decided to protect the susceptible population until then. At a very early stage itself, Kerala chose to ‘trace, quarantine, test, isolate and treat.’ We used the lockdown period to plan, train and arm ourselves and it showed. Our hospital capacity was never overwhelmed. At the peak of the pandemic, just 50% of the ICU beds were occupied and occupancy of ventilators was below 40%. By then, we added hundreds of oxygen-supported beds, especially in the medical college hospitals. At a reception recently, George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar Church, expressed happiness that not a single patient in Kerala died due to non-availability of oxygen,” Ms. Shylaja recalls, saying the team was “thrilled to attempt to rein in a virus that was running riot globally, even as they feared the worst.”
If this was not a success, what is, she asks.
Ms. Shylaja contends that the government was able to strengthen the public health system at all levels in the past five years. “The primary health centres had just one doctor each. We focused on early detection of diseases and prevention and gave a thorough makeover to Family Health Centres (FHCs) with good lawns, buildings and interior and brought in laboratories, COPD devices, depression clinics and early cancer detection. Using KIIFB funds, secondary hospitals, taluk and district, were given aesthetically designed labour rooms, operation theatres and were equipped with modern equipment. At the tertiary level, Linac machines for cancer treatment, multiple cath labs, etc were set up. These apart, under e-health, 260 hospitals were made paperless, total trauma care was introduced in place of casualty units, modular theatres were set up and 2,000 poor children were operated upon at government expense for congenital heart disease,” she says.
After two girls ended their lives by suicide at Walayar, no answers were forthcoming until an investigation revealed that they had been subjected to abuse. A third child from the family was rescued and a probe is on course. “Sensing the vulnerability of children in some border areas to abuse, sensitisation is being carried out. More work is to be done there,” says Ms. Shylaja, in-charge of women and child development.
She rubbishes reports of a rise in atrocities against women and suicide by children during the pandemic. “While it will be some time before these social ills are brought to a halt, multiple agencies are intervening and all cases of violence and abuse are pursued to their logical conclusion.”
While the Left has fielded more women candidates than any other formation, it is still not enough. “We wanted to have more women in the fray but while calculating ‘winnability’ and alliance equations, chances of several fell through. But I’m sure it will be compensated in future.”
