THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The National Health Mission (NHM) has said that 1,031 people were not included in the government’s list of endosulfan victims as they they did not meet the required criteria.
The clarification comes amid an indefinite stir launched by Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani demanding the inclusion of the 1,031 people in the list, in front of the Kasaragod mini civil station since January 30.
Replying to an RTI query on February 15, the NHM said all 1,031 people were not included in the list after the conduct of the three-phase screening, classification and verification process. “The 1,031 people were not included in the list of endosulfan victims as they did not meet the temporal association criteria required. The temporal association was verified by the Integrated Child Development Services supervisors in field verification,” NHM district programme manager, Kasargod, said in the reply.
It said the final list was prepared based on medical camp examination reports and subsequent field-level verification reports. “The field-level verification mainly checks whether the person has worked or resided in or around the plantation corporation area between 1978 and 2000 when endosulfan was sprayed aerially on or near the plantation and whether they were born with any medical condition before 1978 and settled in this area after 2000 and after marriage,” stated the reply.
3-step process
As per the NHM, the victim list is prepared in three steps. First, a screening of persons who believe they suffer from health issues related to endosulfan is done at the nearest health centre. Then, a medical team headed by the DMO reviews the reports available at the district level and prepares a separate list of eligible candidates. In the third step, expert doctors from various medical colleges examine the patients in specialist medical camps.