THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police have registered 469 cases of attacks on medical staff, including doctors, since 2012. A total of 70 cases of hospital attacks were also registered during the period. All of them were registered under the Kerala Healthcare Services Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions Act, 2012.
The documents accessed by TNIE revealed that the number of cases registered in connection with the attack on health professionals was just 50 from 2012 to 2016. During the period, the most number of cases were reported from Kozhikode (18), Malappuram (10) and Thrissur (7). The southern districts fared better during that period as only one case was reported from the region and that was from Thiruvananthapuram.
The attack on health professionals increased exponentially in the coming years, under the LDF governments. From May 25, 2016, to May 19, 2021, 220 such cases were registered. Malappuram topped with 44 cases, followed by Kozhikode (35) and Ernakulam (28).
However, the state saw a dangerous increase in attacks on health professionals from 2021 to March 15, 2023. During this period, 199 such cases were registered with Thiruvananthapuram leading with 25, followed by Ernakulam (23) and Kozhikode (21).
Eight cases were registered for vandalising hospitals from 2012 to 2016 and all those were from the northern districts. The number of such cases rose to 31 during the first Pinarayi government. During this period, Thrissur recorded 12 cases, followed by Idukki with four.
From 2021 to March 15, 2023, 31 cases have been reported on this front. The most number of hospital attacks since 2021 were reported from Alappuzha (7), followed by Thrissur and Palakkad (5 cases each).
No. of hosp attacks