Minister of State for Human Resource Development (HRD) Shashi Tharoor has said that a health policy cannot stand isolated from issues such as waste management and water management, which are the responsibilities of the society as a whole rather than that of any particular government department.
Tharoor said this while delivering the inaugural address at a seminar organised by the State Government to formulate a draft health policy here on Saturday.
“The capital city escaped one monsoon season without any major epidemic outbreak but with no strategy in place to manage waste, what will happen in the next monsoon season cannot be foretold. So even after being blessed with so much of rain, we are facing acute shortage of water. We have to manage our god-given resources and our environment in a better manner,” Tharoor said.
Pointing out several health indices which Kerala has attained or even exceeded the national averages, Tharoor said it was well to plan ahead while we are ahead and this draft health policy seems to be a step in the right direction.“One thing to be worried about is that Kerala is also the capital of diabetes. Not just diabetes but even other lifestyle diseases such as hypertension are on the rise here,” Tharoor said. While the topics at the seminar included ‘New Areas of Focus for Health Sector in Kerala’ and ‘Role of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy in the Changing Epidemiological Scenario’, Tharoor called for a health policy that would have an integrated vision and would involve the strengthening of the primary health centres and the community health centres.
Health Minister V S Sivakumar said that the new health policy being drafted would have emphasis on nutrition. Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, former Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, Chief Secretary Bharat Bhushan, Director of Health Services P K Jameela and Indian Systems of Medicine director Anitha Jacob spoke on the occasion. Planning Board member G Vijayaraghavan and Kerala Kaumudi deputy editor P P James moderated the two major sessions.