Opposition’s allegations about Kerala’s health sector justified, says Satheesan

The recent incidents of medical negligence in government medical colleges and hospitals, including the reported incident of failure to remove surgical equipment from the abdomen of a woman, who was operated upon at the Alappuzha Medical College, justified the Opposition allegation that the health sector of the State was in dire straits, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has alleged.

“The lethargic attitude of the State Health department should be blamed for the recurrence of such incidents. The department and the government had been unsympathetic to the needs of people. The medical authorities are being forced to refer patients from medical colleges to various taluk and district hospitals. The State can ill-afford a strike by the doctors of the medical colleges at this stage. Steps should be taken to end the impasse by holding discussions with the doctors, who are on an indefinite strike,” he said in Kochi on Friday.

Priest’s arrest

The State government should explain to the people the reasons for the illegal arrest of the chief priest of Sabarimala in the temple gold theft case. The Opposition had earlier urged the Special Investigation Team to explain the grounds of the arrest of the priest. The court order issuing bail to the priest had pointed out that there were no grounds for his arrest. The SIT should be made answerable for unreasonably putting him behind bars for 41 days, said Mr. Satheesan.

There were allegations earlier that the priest was arrested for deflecting the public attention from the allegations of involvement of CPI(M) leaders in the case. It was also alleged that the arrest was made on an instruction from the office of the Chief Minister. The Kerala High Court shall inquire into the issues related to the arrest of the priest, demanded Mr. Satheesan.

He alleged that the last decade of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule in Kerala wrecked all the sectors, besides forcing the State into a debt trap. The last decade would be remembered as the dark period in the history of the State, he said.