Kerala health: Medical facilities in doldrums

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Low awareness acts as the biggest bane

The health awareness in Malappuram district of Kerala is not at par with the rest of the state. The district, with a large Muslim population, is considered to be backward. Though the people in this district are generally well off, the district records a low rate of immunisation for new born babies in comparison with the other districts of the state. In fact, the statistics of immunisation in this district, which is one of the basic features of general health, match with those in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam. This is because of the lack of health awareness in the rural areas of the district and the religious-archaic beliefs of the old generation. Although the government is spending crores of rupees annually on health in Malappuram, but still child deaths are reported from here due to the lack of proper immunisation. During the last two years, two children have died because of diphtheria and four each died of tetanus and measles in the district.

As such there are five super speciality private hospitals in the district and still people have to go to nearby districts because of heavy rush in these hospitals. That shows the health standard of the people here. Dr. K.H.H. Das, a senior pathologist, says about the trend in the district, “The general health awareness among the people is high here. They regularly come to hospitals for health check up. Mortality due to breast cancer, uterus cancer and other ailments has come down drastically because of the diseases' early detection. But this awareness is only among the urban population and that is a cause of concern.”

According to the child immunisation data collected in January 1996 by the Central Government, 52 per cent of children were fully vaccinated in Kerala and that was a national record. The data shows the percentage of non-vaccinated children has come down from 11 per cent to two per cent in the state in NFHS-2. During 2007-08, the immunisation rate in Malappuram was 38 per cent that went up to 57 per cent in 2009-10. But during the same period, the districts of Kasaragod, Kannur, Wynad and Trissur registered 100 per cent child immunisation. Siddique, a social worker, says that it is necessary to educate the elder people to get rid of their decades old misconceptions about child immunisation.

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Police catch top Maoists without exchange of fire

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West bengal maoists: Big questions over ‘big catch’

The recent ‘big catch’ of the Kolkata Police, that is the arrest of four top ranking CPI (Maoist) leaders, comes with several questions.

The police have arrested CPI (Maoist) state secretary Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan, state committee members Barun Sur alias Bidyut and Akhil Ghosh alias Ajay and Bimal Mallick alias Shankar. The police claim that the Maoists, including Kanchan, were arrested from the Maidan area of Kolkata in the wee hours of December 3. The police also arrested Maoist Kalpana Maity alias Anu, the wife of party’s state committee member Asim Mondal alias Akash.

The interesting thing is that the arrests were totally peaceful. The Maidan area remains very dark during the night and has lots of small and medium bushes. The proximity of the area with football grounds and Army Headquarters is another topographical advantage for the terrorists as they can easily hide behind the bushes in the dark. How the police traced the Maoists in such an area remains unanswered. Usually, top Maoist leaders move around with a few of their armed activists covering them. There are always two to three armed guards with every leader. However, in the case of the recent arrests, not a single bullet was fired from either side. People are finding it hard to believe that the Maoists did not fire a single shot when they were apprehended and just fell into the police net like ripe plums!

Another interesting aspect is that none of the arrested leaders is from tribal community or from the Junglemahal area. Kanchan is from Garbeta, the den of controversial CPI(M) leader and minister Sushanta Ghosh. Bidyut is a resident of another CPM stronghold Jangipara, presently represented by the Higher Education Minister of the state. Ajay is from Banshdroni of Kolkata itself and Shankar is from Sodepur in North 24-Parganas. Some of the insiders indicate that Kanchan was under the scanner on several issues including his anti-tribal approach. He reportedly ordered several Adivasis to be killed on the slightest suspicion of them being police informers or pro-CPM. “His activities have lessened the Maoists' influence among the Adivasis in the Junglemahal area,” said a source.

Kanchan, who become the state secretary in 2008 after the arrest of Himadri Basu Roy alias Soumen in 2008, started his political career as an SFI leader at Kamarpukur. His elder brothers are active members of CPM and one of them, Prof. Rabindra Chongdar, is a member of the CPI(M) West Midnapore district committee. However, people believe that the recent arrests may well be a case of surrender against several assurances.

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No proper irrigation and drainage facilities in place

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Tamil nadu flood: Flood ravages Cauvery Delta

The heavy rains have once again caused flood in Tamil Nadu's Cauvery Delta region. This year round, the damage caused to the agricultural sector alone is in the tune of Rs. 1000 crore as thousands of acres of the cultivated land lie submerged. It may also result in steep shortage of rice in the near future.

This is a problem that haunts this region every year but the state government has not come up with a comprehensive solution to it so far. The flood is caused due to improper drainage and irrigation system. Sami. Natarajan, Thanjavur district secretary, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, told TSI, “Rain water drainage system in the delta region is 150 years old and there is an immediate need to revamp it. Our requirement of water from the Cauvery is 250 TMC ft, but due to improper irrigation system 120 TMC ft of water flows unused into the sea every year.” He added that there are about 3,000 ponds in the delta region but they are either have been encroached upon or are not properly cleaned up at regular intervals. Thus the river water that should reach these ponds gets diverted to the agricultural lands. The total area of cultivated land in the delta region has also come down during the last few years. The Cauvery delta region consists of Trichy, Tanjore, Cuddalore and Nagapattinam districts and has three important rivers viz Cauvery and its tributaries Kollidam and Vennaru. But this region has very few dams, namely Kalanai in the east, Anaikarai in the west, and Mukkombu in the north. “More dams need to be constructed urgently in this region,” conceded Tamil Nadu Health Secretary V. K. Subburaj, who is assessing the quantum of damage caused by the flood, while talking to TSI. He informed that 12.5 lakh acres of the cultivated land has been affected by the flood.

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