The Kerala government has been basking in the glory of the excellent work done in the state by health workers and the government machinery to contain the pandemic. But, at the same time, the recent decision by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to hand over the prevention and control activities against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to the state police, has lowered the morale of the entire force of health workers in the state.
On Monday, while inaugurating 102 family health centres in Kerala via video conference, the CM said that negligence and laxity had led to a spike in the COVID-19 cases in the state. Stating that people had lowered their guard against the novel coronavirus, he said the police will be given more power to deal with the containment efforts, including contact tracing.
However, health workers said that this decision comes as a slap on their faces, for they have been working hard and relentlessly — enduring the hardships of lockdown, being at the risk of exposure to the virus and getting work done without complaints, besides taking salary cuts.
The fact that the police would now be taking up prevention and control activities, which includes contact tracing and quarantining people, is not as simple as it sounds, said Dr Vijayakrishnan GS, secretary, Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association.
“It is not a mere law enforcement activity, but an epidemiological and scientific activity that cannot be done by the police. It is also not the time to train the police to do these activities. Police are not equipped to take down people's concerns regarding the disease and answering them scientifically,” said Dr Vijayakrishnan.
There are over 11,000 active COVID-19 cases in Kerala at present, and of the 1.45 lakh people under observation so far, 1.35 lakh people are under home isolation. The 10,000 task force of the Health Department cannot reach out to all these people, and all the prevention and control activities were being done in association with the police and the revenue department, he said.
It is a sad statement from the Chief Minister and highly demoralising, said Dr Junaid Rahman, a public health expert and former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi. The statement, besides making a mockery of the existence of the health force in the state, shows a lack of understanding the progression of the virus, he said.
"Instead, the health workers should have been commended for keeping the numbers in check unlike what has happened elsewhere like Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Delhi or Gujarat. The numbers are far less than what was expected," said Dr Junaid.
A Health Inspector (HI) attached to a secondary hospital said that the results would have been much better if the government had made the health authority responsible for implementing the Kerala Epidemics Diseases Ordinance inMarch 2020, which replaced the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. It would have made the health worker on the field better equipped to take action against those violating the norm.
As the law stands, only the police have the authority to slap a fine when people are out without wearing a mask and maintaining physical distancing. It would have made a big difference if the health workers were given the authority during the time of this epidemic, said the HI.
The HI also said that the job of the health workers also includes picking up plastic waste or emptying coconut shells strewn on the streets, which was part of the preventive and control activities of many other communicable diseases as well. His query was would the police be involved in these activities as well.
There have been many times during the course of their work when the health workers wondered if a fine by the Health Department would help keep the public from throwing waste outside their homes.
Even as the healthcare providers, who had been working all through the lockdown without complaint and had taken the salary cuts even though they had thought it might be waived as an incentive to the Health Department, “the comment has hurt us more than even the lack of any incentive”, said a junior health inspector in a primary health centre.
Actually, it is the law enforcement that has gone awry, said Dr Vijayakrishnan. There had been no control in the number of people crowding at grocery stores and other trading places and on the roads without masks and maintaining physical distancing; that has caused the disease to spread further.
It is true that the public does not fear health officials, but only the people in uniform. The government had come out with details on what needs to be done by shopkeepers, hospitals, restaurant owners, barbershops and offices and factories when the unlock began; but these norms were never followed, said a state health official.