Keralam’s 24×7 specialty care rollout falters amid political pushback

The rollout of 24×7 specialty care services in Keralam's hospitals has encountered significant hurdles due to political pushback. Despite the Health department's efforts to pilot the initiative in Punalur taluk hospital, local political leadership and residents have vehemently opposed the plan. Many specialist doctors, who were initially sought to be redeployed, could not be retained at Punalur due to political interventions, as they demanded their return to their previous institutions.

This has led to a severe shortage of human resources, with only two or three PG doctors in each specialty at Punalur, far below the nine promised. The Kerala Government Medical College Officers' Association (KGMOA) has also raised concerns about the acute shortage of doctors, with 799 vacancies in the Health Service, of which 300 are in the specialty cadre.

The government had planned to provide specialty services from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with teleconsultation services running from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., but these arrangements have proven insufficient. Despite assurances from the Health department that the plan would be viable with just six specialist doctors per specialty, the lack of post creation and the resistance from local political leaders has rendered the initiative impractical.

The Finance department's inability to approve the necessary post creation further compounds the issue, as even during the previous government's term, the Health department only managed to secure a fraction of the positions it sought.