Kannur: This hospital is where it all began to unravel for former Health Minister Veena George.

On February 25, she arrived at Peringome, 30 km east of Payyannur, to inaugurate the new building of the Payyannur Taluk Hospital. The Opposition UDF boycotted the event. But Youth League leader and Peringome-Vayakkara panchayat member Shajeer Iqbal waved a black flag at her car. He was assaulted by CPM workers, triggering a series of protests in the district.

Later, when the minister reached Kannur railway station, KSU workers greeted George with more black flags. CPM leaders accused the protesters of attempting to murder the health minister, a charge that collapsed in court later. The political fallout from that day in Peringome is believed to have contributed to George's electoral downfall.

Three months on, the imposing 23,700-square-foot hospital block, built at a cost of ₹8 crore by the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCC), still lies unused.

"It won't be functional anytime soon. The inauguration was an election gimmick, and that's why we boycotted it," said A K Rajan, Congress's Peringome mandalam president.

"The building does not have a fire-fighting system, without which the panchayat won't issue a building number. It does not have a ramp connecting the casualty section to the wards. The lift is not installed. To top it all, the building is empty inside. There isn't a single piece of furniture," he said.

Residents and health officials want the new building to become operational soon because the taluk hospital still functions from a cramped, dilapidated block behind it. Cartons of medicines are stacked along the corridor of the male and female wards, inside the wards themselves, and beneath the staircase. "There is no space in the pharmacy or store," said the pharmacist.

Doctors meet patients in rooms without ventilation or air-conditioning. The broken men's toilet and dressing room sit side by side. Patients entering the old block are greeted by a handwritten notice hanging at the entrance: "Due to a shortage of doctors, there will be no service after 6 pm."

The hospital was upgraded from a community health centre (CHC) to a taluk hospital in 2011, in the final months of the V S Achuthanandan government, when P K Sreemathi was health minister.

"After 15 years, it still has the staff pattern of a CHC and, without admitting patients, functions more like a primary health centre," said a civil surgeon. "Forget doctors, we don't even have enough cleaning staff to maintain the hospital."

Under the state's Aardram Mission, a taluk hospital is expected to function as a secondary-care institution with at least 12 specialities: general medicine, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology, anaesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry, dermatology and dentistry. Peringome has almost none of these.

The hospital currently has one general physician, who joined only two weeks ago, one paediatrician, three assistant surgeons with MBBS qualifications and a dentist. The lone gynaecologist has been on study leave for the past one-and-a-half years, and no replacement has been posted. Two assistant surgeon posts are also vacant.

The only significant change in the hospital's staff pattern came in December 2025, when the government created one post for a physician (MD) and four posts for Casualty Medical Officer (MBBS). The physician joined two weeks ago, but all four CMO posts remain vacant.

"Irrespective of what's on paper, we have only two doctors to attend to around 400 patients a day. During the rainy season, the number goes beyond 500," said Ummer Peringome, a member of the hospital management committee.

The taluk hospital is meant to cater to residents of Eramam-Kuttur, Peringome-Vayakkara, Cherupuzha, Udayagiri and Kankol-Alappadamba panchayats, besides five wards of Kayyur-Cheemeni panchayat in neighbouring Kasaragod district.
"But if we receive a patient with chest pain, we don't have the specialists or facilities to manage the case," said a nurse. "We immediately refer them elsewhere."

When Onmanorama visited the hospital on Saturday, two doctors were consulting patients in cramped, poorly ventilated rooms. By 1 pm, they had already seen nearly 190 patients.

Aneesh, who was waiting outside, recalled bringing his seven-year-old daughter to the hospital one evening. "It was around 6 pm. There were no doctors. The nurses asked me to come back the next day. But it was an emergency, and I had to take her to a private hospital," he said. "It became very expensive."

No space, no doctors, no inpatients
The hospital has no proper inpatient services despite being sanctioned as a 24-bed institution. There is no labour room. There is no X-ray unit. There is no CT scanner. A mental health clinic held on the third Thursday of every month attracts around 150 patients. Staff struggle to find space for them.

"We simply don't have room," said a nurse.

Two years ago, the hospital briefly offered inpatient services and round-the-clock medical care. The arrangement lasted only a few weeks before doctors either left for higher studies or secured transfers elsewhere.

The new building that cannot open
The new building was supposed to solve many of these problems. In 2019, then health minister K K Shailaja laid the foundation stone. Civil, electrical and plumbing works were completed by July 2025. Nearly a year later, the building remains unusable because the firefighting system is not in place. The previous government sanctioned ₹50 lakh for the system, said the civil surgeon.

The building has another serious flaw: there is no adequate ramp connecting critical sections. "When the construction was underway, we told the contractor about the need for ramps. They said they could build only what was in the approved plan," said an official, adding that the hospital did not have a lift either.

Requirements
Hospital authorities estimate they require at least 38 additional posts, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, attendants, cleaners, security personnel and administrative staff. The institution currently lacks even basic positions. There is no head nurse, no nursing assistant, no security staff and no data-entry operator.

Only two cleaning workers serve the facility. A hospital of this size would require at least six.

"We borrow cleaning staff from neighbouring institutions," said an official.