Pathanamthitta: The decision by the State Government to hand over the administration of the District General Hospital from Pathanamthitta municipality to the District Panchayat has put the Left Democratic Front in the district in a spot. The civic body has now approached the Kerala High Court against the move, and a hearing on the case is slated to be held on March 18.
The other day, the CPM-ruled municipality unanimously adopted a resolution asking the state government to stall the move and retain the hospital under the authority of the civic body itself. The resolution, moved by the UDF Parliamentary Party leader K Jasim Kutty, was endorsed by T Zakir Hussain, a senior CPM leader currently serving as the civic body's chairman.
The resolution criticizes the state government for keeping the civic body completely in the dark while making such a decision. Pointing out that they only learned about the move through media reports, it further asked the state government to review the decision. Nowhere in the state has the government taken such a unilateral decision regarding the administration of any other hospitals, it added.
“The state government is learned to have issued an order in this regard on January 30. The municipality, however, is yet to receive any official communication regarding this matter. We were not consulted either," Jerry Alex, Chairman of the civic body’s health standing committee, told Onmanorama.
The District General Hospital – the biggest hospital in Pathanamthitta in the government sector – is currently governed by a Hospital Managing Committee (HMC) headed by the Municipal Chairman. During the pandemic period, the Municipality spent Rs 50 lakh for establishing an oxygen plant at the hospital, besides renovating the hospital’s pay ward with a fund of Rs 35 lakhs.
"A project by the municipality, for identifying lifestyle-related diseases, is now being implemented at the hospital with a fund of Rs 45 lakhs allotted by the 15th Finance Commission. But all of a sudden, the state government unilaterally decides to disband the HMC through a special order and hand over the hospital administration to another local body," Alex rued.
The move, meanwhile, has created widespread discontent within the LDF, and last week, it snowballed into a deeper crisis for the CPM when the chairman and other LDF councillors in the municipality abstained from the launch of several new projects at the hospital.
