Kerala Health Row Deepens as Minister Refuses to Quit
Thiruvananthapuram, October 23: The political row over Kerala's health sector intensified on Friday after Health Minister K. Muraleedharan rejected calls for his resignation. Responding to criticism from three former women health ministers of the CPI(M), he questioned their past performance and said he had no plans to step down.
Muraleedharan said the era of surgical scissors being allegedly left inside patients during operations belonged to the past, and used the remark to attack the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
He also made personal remarks about the three former ministers, claiming they had been overlooked by their own party and had now come together against him. Stressing his position, he said, “The Congress party has made me a minister,” and reiterated that he would not resign.
The exchange followed a day after senior CPI(M) leader and former health minister P.K. Sreemathy, together with K.K. Shailaja and Veena George, jointly criticised the state's management of the health sector.
Muraleedharan alleged that children had died from infections during one former minister's term and that lives were lost during a Nipah virus outbreak under another. He accused the third former minister of making a false claim of being assaulted.
The dispute over medicines for children with spinal muscular atrophy has become the main trigger for the confrontation. The former ministers questioned the supply of drugs prescribed only for clinical trials and warned about the safety of patients.
Sreemathy said the government's irresponsible approach was causing difficulties for patients seeking life-saving drugs. She asserted that medicines had been provided free during the LDF's rule and that no shortage complaints had surfaced over ten years.
She further claimed that the procurement process through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation had been ignored, fostering corruption and distribution issues.
Muraleedharan countered that the government would continue using India-manufactured medicines rather than importing drugs for SMA patients. He held some television channels responsible for amplifying the controversy and hinted that foreign pharmaceutical firms could be linked to some of these reports.
Neurosurgeon and former University of Kerala Vice-Chancellor B. Iqbal has backed the department's decision. He described the use of Risdiplam, a low-cost generic drug made by Natco, as a key step towards making treatment more affordable.
With drug procurement, patient safety and the LDF government's health record now at the heart of the dispute, the issue has evolved into a major political battle. Muraleedharan, who is handling the health portfolio rather than the chief minister's post, has signalled that he is not inclined to back down.