Given the high levels of medicine consumption and reappearance of several diseases that had been eradicated, Kerala should immediately think of a comprehensive health policy and a drug testing facility of international standards, experts and policy makers say.
Participating in a seminar on health, organised by the AKG Centre for Study and Research here on Saturday, they pointed out that the State was unable to tackle its health problems despite having achieved great progress in provision of public healthcare. The healthcare paradigm in the State was undergoing a change denying access to quality healthcare to the poorer sections, they said.
Inaugurating the seminar, former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said the State must have a drug testing facility of international standards as the State consumed the highest quantity of medicines in the country. He cited the Karunya Benevolent Fund as a scheme that could prove beneficial to the poorer sections. The State should also be able to utilise treatment practices under the Ayurveda, Unani and Sidhha systems of medicine, he added.
Challenges
Making the key presentation, former Kerala University Vice Chancellor B. Ekbal said the State’s main challenge was the absence of a comprehensive health policy. Outbreak of epidemics such as jaundice, cholera, dengue and malaria, uncontrolled privatisation of the healthcare sector, morbidity pattern among senior citizens and increasing price of drugs were all challenges that needed to be tackled on a war footing.
The ‘low mortality high morbidity syndrome’ that experts such as the late C.R. Soman and P.G.K. Panikker spoke about called for focussed attention, he said.
