It was said in a fit of anger but the name Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset management company, was heard for the first time inside the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday.

Exasperated by the LDF charge that Kerala's health sector was in ventilator, health minister K Muraleedharan shot back: "Their allegations are nothing but hot air. They are working as agents of the American company Blackstone to protect the interests of private hospitals."

Before he came to Blackstone, Muraleedharan said: "In the last ten years, they had taken commissions for even purchasing medicines. There was commission for each medicine procured. Commission for the minister. Commission for the party. This government is trying to provide medicines at lower costs to the people by avoiding middlemen."

It was also perhaps the briefest of replies given by a minister for an adjournment motion. Muraleedharan would up his angry response in less than a minute.

Though he concluded bitterly with a reference to Blackstone, the health minister began his reply with a barb that would have at least for a fraction of a second made even his targets, the LDF members, want to burst out loud laughing. The major thrust of CPM MLA K V Sumesh's adjournment motion was the shortage of medicines in Kerala. "There is a shortage of even paracetamol," Sumesh had said.

Muraleedharan got up bristling with anger. "The only medicine that is out of stock is the one meant to cure the depression caused by lost power," he said. The Opposition objected vociferously to this one-liner but it was the Blackstone charge that appeared to have extracted blood. The American company has by now acquired big private hospitals in Kerala like Aster Healthcare and KIMS Health.

It was left to Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan to take on the health minister. Pinarayi, unlike the health minister, was uncharacteristically calm. Even when MLAs from the ruling side called him corrupt, Pinarayi refused to let go of a faint knowing smile that had a glint of playful mischief.

Pinarayi delivered a couple of wisecracks, too. "The minister had said that there was no shortage of medicines, except for some. Isn't that what we call shortage?"

Pinarayi then referred to another Muraleedharan remark in which the minister said that he did not have Aladdin's magic lamp to solve the problems in the health sector. "Kerala's health sector is the country's guiding light. You don't have to go around looking for a magic lamp. You just have to make sure that you don't put out the light," he said.

The Opposition Leader came to Blackstone late in his speech. He did not take Blackstone by name but made a series of insinuations.

He said the real cause behind the shortage of medicines was the absence of an MD for Kerala Medical Services. Earlier, Sumesh had said that three IAS officers had refused to take up the post.

Pinarayi read out Malayala Manorama reports published in September and October of severe medicine and reagent shortage in the state. "Clearly, the procurement and distribution of medicines in Kerala have gone off the rails. Is there a secret agenda behind this? This merits a serious probe," Pinarayi said.

He said the tender process had been completed by the previous LDF government. "The only thing left to do is to place orders. Is there something sinister behind this," he said, and added: "Is this part of a deal with certain private hospitals in our state."

The Opposition Leader suggested that even the termination of hundreds of National Health Mission contract workers was an attempt to serve private interests. "This is being done to achieve certain other things. When they are pushed out, they will have to find out other avenues. The government is encouraging these other avenues," Pinarayi said.

He also said layoffs in the government sector were imposing a huge burden on existing health staff, which in turn was leading to a surge in infectious diseases and cases of medical negligence.

"What we need to look at seriously is that big corporate hospitals have already reached Kerala. They are exerting their influence in a big way. It has to be suspected that there is an attempt to surrender Kerala's public health sector to these big corporate hospitals," Pinarayi said.

Indian Medical Association figures show that corporate hospitals, with 500 or more beds, have increased in number by at least 60 per cent during the LDF tenure. Simultaneously, small family-run private health institutions are being gobbled up by corporate giants.