THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s public health sector, which attracted positive global attention especially during the Covid pandemic, has another major achievement to boast about.Women occupy key administrative positions in the department. At the top is Minister Veena George, who received the baton from K K Shailaja.
Both the Additional Chief Secretary (Health) and Principal Secretary (Health & Family Welfare) are women — Asha Thomas and Tinku Biswal, respectively — while Dr Preetha P P is the Director of Health Services. The state also has nine women district medical officers. Moreover, barring Kozhikode, Kannur and Wayanad, all government medical colleges in the state are headed by women. There’s more: Women constitute 65% of the total doctor strength in public service, while the number of women students are double than their male counterparts. Among nurses, there is almost total domination of women.
Women in the healthcare sector have come a long way and their journey has a positive correlation with the sector’s growth.
The approach paper for the 14th Five-Year-Plan by the State Planning Board has said that the state continues to attract international attention for its achievements in health sectors. It has been the top performer in all social and health indicators and was top in terms of overall performance in NITI Aayog’s Performance of States in Health Index in 2019-20. Public health experts said the role of gender, though rarely acknowledged, played an important role in the achievements.
‘Individual talent plays bigger role than gender’
“Whenever they have assumed charge of the healthcare, women have brought about good changes in it. Former health minister K K Shailaja is a fine example of this, for the role she played in the state’s fight against the Nipah and Covid outbreak. Even in the case of health centres, the best performing ones have always been those headed by a woman,” said Dr P K Jameela, the former director of health services and an expert member in the State Planning Board.
She said women are efficient, consultative, empathetic, believe in team work and are almost corruption free. “All these augur well for the sector. The opinion that women should be leaders in healthcare is gaining strength globally,” Jameela said. While some may call the presence of women in top administrative posts in the department just a coincidence or a result of seniority, the fact that women in various fields have moved up the ranks may be due to their extra effort, said Dr Jayasree A K, social activist and professor at Kannur Medical College.
“In general, women are efficient in most domains. At lower levels, they have to multi-task due to improper division of labour at home. So, when women come forward, there has to be a change in this division. Participation of men in division of labour at home is essential in the present scenario. However, we are not bothered about it,” she said. “Gender does not have much role in administrative posts. Individual talent and initiatives matter more,” she said.
Dr Kala Kesavan P, who recently took charge as Thiruvananthapuram Medical College principal echoed similar sentiments. “It is about how you interact with people, take them into confidence, build rapport with colleagues at all levels and gain confidence,” she said.