THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan had arrived in the capital to finalise a deal with the state government to recruit 250 nurses and doctors from Kerala to Wales’ public health sector. She was giving a video presentation on her country during an interaction with the recruits when suddenly the sound system failed.
The technicians attempted to fix the issue but in vain. Any leader would have lost their cool in such an embarrassing situation. But Morgan was a class apart. “How about singing a song till they correct it?” she said to the baffled audience. The Labour Party leader said it was a common practice in her country to sing when such technical glitches occurred at public functions.
With the audience’s permission, the minister sang a beautiful Welsh hymn ‘Calon Lan’. The entire Welsh team, including Mitchell Theaker, head of India for the Welsh government, and their public relations agents, joined Morgan to sing Calon Lan, which is a prayer to the god for a ‘pure heart’. With their simplicity and humility, the minister and her team managed to win the hearts of the audience.
“We welcome you all to our small country. Just three million people in a beautiful green country. We may not have big cities but our people sing a lot. We love the people coming to our country, and would give all support to them,” she told the recruits.
‘Wales welcomes Keralites’
During an interaction with media persons, Morgan said the idea of direct recruitment was mooted by Health Minister Veena George who visited Wales last year. She said Wales had a robust public health sector that provides free treatment to all. There are about 20 hospitals with 9,000-odd beds.
“The National Health System Wales looks forward to more recruitments from Kerala. There are plans to recruit specialist health professionals like experts in dentistry,” said Morgan. She also said that there was scope to recruit caregivers.