Vakkom rural health centre slips into severe neglect amid resource crunch
Plagued by severe resource shortages, staff cuts, and stalled construction, the once-thriving Vakkom Rural Health Centre now struggles to provide basic care, forcing local residents to seek medical treatment at distant facilities.
Plagued by severe resource shortages, staff cuts, and stalled construction, the once-thriving Vakkom Rural Health Centre now struggles to provide basic care, forcing local residents to seek medical treatment at distant facilities.
Plagued by severe resource shortages, staff cuts, and stalled construction, the once-thriving Vakkom Rural Health Centre now struggles to provide basic care, forcing local residents to seek medical treatment at distant facilities.
Chirayinkeezhu: The Vakkom Rural Health Centre, once a beacon of hope that provided round-the-clock care to hundreds of patients daily with the support of doctors from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, is now a shadow of its former self. Plagued by continuous neglect from authorities, the centre finds itself struggling amid a myriad of deficiencies and a severe lack of resources.
During the tenure of Vakkom B Purushothaman, a local resident and then MLA, who served as the Health Minister, the Vakkom Rural Health Centre thrived as one of the top government hospitals in the district. It was under his leadership that the institution was upgraded from a Primary Health Centre to a Rural Health Centre, ensuring essential services such as adequate doctors, medicines, maternity facilities, inpatient treatment, and round-the-clock medical care.
The majority of patients seeking treatment hailed from the coastal areas of Vakkom, Kadakkavoor, Mananack, Cherunniyoor, and Anjuthengu. However, the hospital, which once attended to over 500 patients daily, has now been abandoned by the public, its former throng of visitors now opting to seek care elsewhere.
Years ago, the purported 24-hour service was already scaled back to 9 am to 8 pm. Now, due to a severe crunch in funding and a shortage of staff, even the afternoon doctor's services have been cancelled. With essential treatments and even life-saving medications no longer guaranteed, locals have no choice but to travel several kilometers to government hospitals in Attingal, Chirayinkeezhu, and Varkala, abandoning the Vakkom centre altogether.
Adding to the woes, the construction of a multi-storey building within the hospital premises, initiated a year ago with ₹1.92 crore rupees from the District Medical Mission fund, has also ground to a halt. Ironically, this new construction began after demolishing an existing building that was relatively new and still functional.
The two wards, which once housed 15 beds, have now been shut down entirely, devoid of patients as their operations became unsustainable. Locals are now urgently demanding that the hospital's operating hours be extended to their former schedule, that the new building with all necessary amenities be completed on a war footing, and that the Vakkom Rural Health Centre be restored to its rightful place as a vital asset for the community.