Attappadi healthcare facilities will receive more doctors, a paediatric ambulance and expanded newborn and child-care services after Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan announced a package of measures following a spate of infant deaths in the tribal region. The announcements were made during the minister’s visit to Attappadi and a review meeting with health officials and local representatives on Saturday.
The immediate focus is Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital, where the minister acknowledged a shortage of doctors. Additional medical professionals will be appointed shortly, although attracting doctors to the remote region remains a challenge, he said.
The proposed measures include a dedicated paediatric ambulance, expansion of the hospital’s neonatal and paediatric departments and an increase in field-level health workers. The additional personnel are intended to improve medical care and monitoring in tribal settlements, according to the minister’s announcements reported by Times News Network.
A new hospital block with newborn-care facilities and an emergency operation theatre will also be constructed at Kottathara with assistance from Nabard. The project is expected to expand the hospital’s ability to provide emergency and specialised care within the region, although the report did not specify a construction timeline or project cost.
Kottathara hospital and Thrissur Medical College Hospital will be linked through a spoke-and-hub model to facilitate specialised treatment for children. The arrangement is intended to connect the tribal hospital with a higher-level medical centre when cases require specialised intervention.
The radiology department at Kottathara will also be strengthened. Under the proposed arrangement, a radiologist from Thrissur Medical College Hospital will visit the facility every week, the minister said. The announcement addresses a specialist-care gap without requiring patients to travel for every radiological consultation, though the report did not provide details on staffing schedules or the services that will be covered.
The state government is also considering replacing the existing Rs 2,000 financial assistance for pregnant women under the Janani Janma Raksha scheme with cooked nutritional meals. The minister did not announce a final decision on the proposed change. The scheme’s delivery model is therefore still under consideration.
The review also covered the community kitchen in Attappadi. The minister said financial constraints caused by the non-release of funds had affected its operations and assured that the pending amount would be released soon. The report did not state the amount outstanding or provide a date for the release.
The measures follow a period of scrutiny over infant deaths in Attappadi. An expert committee is investigating the deaths, and the minister said its recommendations would be examined before further action. The committee’s findings, along with the staffing, ambulance, hospital expansion and nutrition measures, will determine the next steps for strengthening healthcare delivery in the region.
