COVID-19 exposes Kasargod's poor medical infrastructure

The increasing number of Covid-19 cases at Kasargod district and Karnataka closing roads from Kerala have highlighted the lack of medical infrastructure in Kasargod district, which has been a long-pending plight of the scores of endosulfan victims of the district.

Though Kerala government announced a medical college in the district a decade ago, it still remains in the constriction stages. The district lacked the service of a specialist doctor, despite having over 5,000 endosulfan victims with mental and physical deformities.

It is owing to the lack of specialist doctors in Kasargod that a major chunk of patients from the district are forced to depend on hospitals in neighbouring Mangalore. With Karnataka authorities blocking the borders owing to Covid-19, the patients were not even able to undergo emergency treatments like dialysis. Even as Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has now directed to expedite enhancing medical infrastructure in the district.

Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan, an activist working for the endosulfan victims, said that the endosulfan victims and their parents were facing severe hardships owing to the unavailability of medical college and service of special doctors. It is even suspected that the private hospital lobbies of neighbouring districts were sabotaging the development of health infrastructure in Kasargod, he said.

According to sources in Mangaluru health sector, about 30 per cent of patients at hospitals in Mangauru are from Kerala.

Mangaluru doctors raise concern against blocking patients

A section of doctors in Mangaluru has urged the district authorities to allow patients from Kasargod to come to Mangaluru.

Karnataka Private Hospital Association executive member Dr Yusuf Kumble sent a letter in this regard to the deputy commission at Mangaluru the other day. The Mangaluru based doctor pointed out that many patients from neighbouring districts undergoing dialysis, heart ailment and post-surgical follow-up and many suffering emergency problems like stroke and heart attack were complaining that they were blocked by police at the border even with out cross-checking the facts.