Flaws in public health and education sectors could prove costly for Left-front govt in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The repeated tragic incidents in key sectors like public health and education in Kerala could prove costly for the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala, especially since polls are approaching.

If it was the death of a woman following the collapse of a building at the Kottayam medical college that rocked the state earlier this month, the death of a 13-year-old boy after suffering electric shock from a live uninsulated wire passing through a school compound in Kollam, has literally shocked the state.

The concerns of the Left-front over the political backlash, that these incidents could cause in the coming local body and Assembly polls, was quite evident with CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan stating that the opposition was trying to take political advantage from tragic incidents.

However, political analysts point out that unlike corruption allegations, the series of untoward incidents in sectors like education and public health would definitely leave a bad impression about the government in the mind of a common man. The incident at the school is more damaging for the CPI(M) as it is managed by a committee with party members.

There were already criticisms that those in power used to give scant regard to the public health and education systems as they hardly take treatment at government hospitals and didn't send their children to government schools.

The US visit of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for treatment that incidentally happened soon after the tragic incident at the Kottayam medical college and the statement of cultural affairs minister Saji Cheriyan that he survived a dengue fever after being shifted from a government hospital to a private facility further aggravated the public sentiments.

The flaws in the public health system were exposed recently as a senior doctor of Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital, which is considered as one of the key institutions under the state public health sector, openly lamented over the undue delay in supply of surgical equipment, which is affecting treatments.

"Already there has been strong anti-incumbency against the government. Obviously the back to back incidents in the health and education sectors would aggravate further and could in turn reflect in the next elections," senior political observer J Prabhash said.