THIRUVNANTHAHPURAM: At a time when people in hundreds are falling to infectious diseases in the state and the health department is almost clueless in meeting the challenge owing to lack of experts and expertise, a ambitious proposal to start a public health course at the medical college hospital here has been shelved because of official apathy.
The proposal was mooted by former health secretary Rajiv Sadanandan last July. Doctors of the community medicine department in Thiruvananthapuram medical college along with experts of Duke, Standford universities and IIM Bangalore had even developed a curriculum. Talks had also been initiated to ensure funding from World Bank as soft loan.
But with the officer concerned going on central deputation, the entire project was swept under the carpet.
The course was aimed at creating the much needed public health cadre for the state health services. It goes without saying that most disease prevention and control programmes in the state had failed to check the growing infectious diseases because of absence of skilled public health managers and a dedicated public health cadre.
“We submitted the proposal with lot of hope. But now I think it is as good as shelved because of lack of vision of those who matter. Unfortunately public health is not considered as a speciality,’’ sid Dr Vijayakumar, head of the department of community medicine medical college.
Experts say the course would have helped in developing expertise locally to handle crisis situation and avoid the knee jerk reaction that the state now witnesses during recurring episodes of infectious diseases.
