Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23 — Kerala Health Minister K. Muraleedharan on Friday hit back at his three women predecessors of the CPI-M, questioning their record in office and asserting that he had no intention of quitting amid the escalating political row over the state's healthcare sector.
Taking a swipe at the previous LDF government, Muraleedharan said the days when surgical scissors were allegedly left inside patients during operations were over.
The senior Congress leader also took a personal dig at the three former ministers, remarking that the three women unwanted by their own party had come together to attack him.
"The Congress party made me a minister," he said, making it clear that he would not step down.
His sharp response came a day after former Health Ministers P.K. Sreemathy, K.K. Shailaja and Veena George, all CPI-M leaders, jointly attacked the handling of the health sector under the UDF government.
Muraleedharan also sought to turn the spotlight on the record of the former ministers.
He alleged that children had died following infections during the tenure of one minister and that people had died during the Nipah outbreak when another was in office.
He accused the third of making a false claim about having been assaulted.
The controversy over medicines for children suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) has emerged as the principal flashpoint in the confrontation.
The former ministers questioned the reported distribution of medicines labelled “Clinical Trial Only”, raising concerns over whether adequate safety safeguards had been followed.
Sreemathy alleged that patients were struggling to obtain life-saving medicines because of the government's irresponsible approach.
She maintained that the LDF government had provided medicines free of cost and that shortages had not been a complaint during its decade in power.
She also alleged that established procurement procedures through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation had been disregarded, leading to corruption and lapses in distribution.
Muraleedharan, however, said the government would proceed with an Indian made medicine for SMA patients instead of buying an imported drug.
He argued that reports carried by some television channels had fuelled the controversy and suggested that foreign pharmaceutical companies could sometimes be behind such reports.
Meanwhile, prominent neurosurgeon and former Kerala University Vice-Chancellor B. Iqbal has backed the Health Department's decision to use Natco's lower-cost generic Risdiplam, describing it as a step towards making treatment more affordable.
The dispute has widened into a political battle over medicine procurement, patient safety and the healthcare record of the previous LDF government, with Muraleedharan, the son of former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, showing no sign of retreating from the confrontation.