Amid public outrage over the tragic collapse of a building at Kottayam Medical College that killed one and injured several others, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is set to travel to the United States for medical treatment, sparking widespread criticism over timing, priorities, and hypocrisy. The Chief Minister is embarking on a nine, day trip to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota via Dubai, even as the state reels from a preventable tragedy that has laid bare the crumbling state of its public health infrastructure. The contradiction between Vijayan’s personal reliance on foreign medical care and the government’s relentless propaganda branding Kerala as ‘No 1’ in healthcare in India is glaring.
No official announcement has been made regarding the Chief Minister’s travel, and, notably, no alternate charge has been handed over during his absence. The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) merely informed the Raj Bhavan of the trip, which is reportedly scheduled for tonight. Originally planned for August, the visit has been advanced amid mounting pressure on the state government following the Kottayam incident. This marks Vijayan’s fourth visit to the United States for treatment, with previous trips recorded in 2018, January 2022, and April of the same year. The optics of the Chief Minister flying abroad for treatment, via Dubai, where his son has established a growing business empire, have further fueled public anger, especially at a time when Kerala’s hospitals are under severe scrutiny.
On Wednesday, a portion of the three-storey orthopedic wing of the Kottayam Medical College Hospital collapsed, killing a woman named Bindu and injuring at least two others, including an 11-year-old girl. Bindu, a resident of Thalayolaparambu in Kottayam, was accompanying her daughter who was undergoing treatment at the hospital. She was trapped under the debris after she went to use the bathroom on the third floor, a floor two state ministers had falsely claimed was “unused and decommissioned.” Rescue efforts were delayed for over two hours due to the health minister Veena George’s insistence that the building was vacant, despite repeated pleas from relatives and eyewitnesses that people were still inside.
Shockingly, this disaster unfolded even as Chief Minister Vijayan was holding a review meeting in the same district. Health Minister Veena George and Minister VN Vasavan visited the site, but their dismissive remarks, suggesting the structure was only being used for storage, are now being widely condemned. Patients and their families have directly contradicted these claims, asserting that several individuals had been using the facility and narrowly escaped death.
The medical superintendent later admitted that the building had been declared unsafe and some wards were vacated previously. However, he failed to explain why people continued to access the site and why no clear warnings or barricades had been enforced. These administrative lapses have drawn sharp criticism from the opposition and the public alike.
MLA Chandy Oommen led a protest at the hospital, accusing the government of spreading misinformation and downplaying the disaster. He alleged that the narrative around the building being ‘unused’ was deliberately constructed to deflect responsibility.
The Kottayam tragedy is only the latest in a string of failures that have plagued Kerala’s public health system during the tenure of Veena George as Health Minister and Pinarayi Vijayan’s leadership. Health workers, patients, and activists have repeatedly flagged issues of poor maintenance, delayed crisis response, and administrative apathy, all of which have culminated in fatal outcomes.
That the Chief Minister is now leaving the state, without even naming an acting head, while citizens grapple with grief, fear, and anger, has further underlined a growing sense of disconnect between the government and the people. His departure, shrouded in silence and secrecy, stands in stark contrast to the false propaganda of Kerala’s healthcare excellence.
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