Despite the Health Department’s efforts to ensure better coordination of all public health-related activities in flood-affected regions, duplication of activities, resulting in the waste of precious resources, is emerging as a serious concern.
To manage the post-flood period, when the threat of infectious diseases outbreaks is quite high, the department had prepared a 30-day action plan, wherein all public health-related activities in the affected regions were to be coordinated through a 24x7 control room (1800 1231 454).
It was announced that all demands regarding medical attention, ambulance service, medicine shortage, etc., would be routed through the State Control Room (SCR).
Close on its heels, another 24x7 control room was set up in the office of the Health Minister, with another number (1800 425 1077) also directing the public to call for any health-related problems.
The Health Secretary also issued a directive that all medical camps and supply of medicines should be routed through the district medical officers and that the SCR would monitor the medical camps and teams.
However, the Health Department has not been able to curtail a lot of parallel activities, including the conduct of medical camps and drug collection. Though it had put up an 82-item list of medicines on the official website, social media display several unofficial lists. The Indian Medical Association and private hospitals, among others, are involved in relief-related activities, which do not come under the purview of the SCR.
“So far, there have been no threats of disease outbreaks. But we seem to have no control over the duplication of activities. The department had promised at least one medical camp in every relief camp. But there more medical camps are being held. Yet, we get complaints that camps are not held in certain localities,” a health official said.
The Kerala Medical Services Corporation and Kerala Flood Relief, set up with the guidance of the Tamil Nadu National Health Mission Director (who had managed the Chennai flood situation), is keeping an inventory of medical supplies. “We will have to cater to the requirement of drugs for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for a larger population, who would have been consulting the private sector,” he added.
