Things are not going well for the LDF Government. Controversial issues continue to pile upon pile. First, the statements by Paloli and AK Balan, now the Munnar encroachment issue and, to add to the confusion, the infant deaths in SAT hospital.
It has been widely propagated that most of the encroachments in Munnar are done either by the members of the Marxist Party or their close relatives. The UDF has cleanly washed their hands off, demanding impartial enquiry and punishment to the offenders. But, the nexus between the officials and the party is likely to wreck all investigation, the UDF says.
It is pathetic that so many new borns died in the premier hospital at Trivandrum. It is needless to say that this has resulted from the negligence of the staff, authorities and the Government. The Health Minister cannot easily wash her hands off the incident, because the sanitary conditions in all hospitals in Kerala are in a bad situation because of paucity of funds. Reports and recommendations made by various committees are criminally ignored and shelved for ever. When another incident arises, one more committee will be constituted to waste so much of paper. Sacking a Superintendent or some doctors will not help.
This is the situation is a State which found its name in the list of WHO for many firsts in primary health. It is imperative on the Government to take immediate steps to alleviate the distress.
