Since early March, when the vaccination drive began, municipality and health authorities were worried about the crowd in front of Thaikkadappuram Family Health Centre (FHC) along the coast in Kasaragod's Neeleswaram Municipality. More than 350 people, most of them over 60 years of age and with comorbidities, came for vaccination daily to the Centre that was only recently elevated to a FHC.
But at that point, when Kerala was gearing up for an intense election campaign, there was a general impression that COVID-19 was on the wane. It was easy to brush aside worries.
However, when the second surge began in the middle of April, old worries returned. When the rains intensified by the second week of May, more space became a necessity.
“Along with those coming for vaccination, there were the regular patients. When it is windy and raining, which was almost always during the last fortnight, we could not let them stand outside. But it was also not right to let these two groups mingle,” said Dr Sarada, the FHC's medical officer. Most were poor folk from the fishermen community.
Social distancing paradise
She asked the municipality for a place nearby to carry out the vaccination drive so that social distancing could be adhered to effectively. Many places, including an aided school, were identified. But all were slightly distant. “We wanted a place nearer,” Dr Sarada said.
It was then that the Muslim League's Thaikadappuram Sea Road ward councillor Anwar Sadique suggested a madrassa nearby: Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Nusrath Madrasa of the Thaikkadappuram Jama-Ath Mosque. It is a large two-storeyed structure near a newly constructed beige-coloured mosque with pastel green domes.
Anwar talked to Neeleswaram Municipality chairperson T V Santha and vice-chairman P P Muhammed Rafi, both from the CPM. All three agreed the Nusrath Madrassa, run by the Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Committee, was the right place. It was near and spacious. Importantly, the Jama-ath members were progressive.
Secular abode
“Last year, they had willingly agreed to convert the 'madrassa' into a quarantine centre for migrant labourers and those returning from the Gulf,” Anwar Sadique said. “We did not use it as the need did not arise then,” he said.
This time when they asked, the Jama-ath committee was more than willing. “We did not think twice when the health and municipality officials came to us with the request,” Jama-ath secretary A Mohammed Shafi, a retired postmaster, said. “The children were not coming anyway, because of COVID. But even if there were classes, we had more than enough space in the building to accommodate the children,” Shafi said.
The Jama-ath has now left the entire ground floor, over 2000 sq ft, for the vaccination drive. “It is a large space of five classrooms and we have asked them to use all our facilities,” Shafi said. Dr Sarada said that the madrassa had enough room and chairs for people to be seated at a safe distance from each other. “It has a drinking water facility and also parking space,” she said.
The madrassa is also just a five-minute walk from the FHC, diagonally across the road from it. “It is easy to carry supplies from the FHC to the madrassa,” Dr Sarada said.
Melting pot of faiths
The Jama-ath is particular that its gesture should not be seen as some kind of a favour. “We have told Jama-ath members not to exhibit any behaviour that could even remotely be considered as patronising or dominating. People from all faiths come for vaccination and we want all of them to feel at home here,” secretary Shafi said. “Moreover, there is nothing more holy than this. It is our duty. It does not cost us any money either,” he said.
The Jama-ath members were also not comfortable with a public function to mark the handing over of the 'madrassa' for the vaccination drive. “We didn't want such a function but the municipality authorities lovingly insisted,” Shafi said. A small function, with municipal councillors and health workers in attendance, was held on May 25.
The Nusrath Madrassa will be used for the first time on May 29, when the FHC has scheduled 300 shots. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, during his customary sunset briefing on May 27, spoke of the Thaikadappuram model as an example of religious generosity.
