On 30th January earlier this year, a medical student from Wuhan flew into Kerala. It was during that time news of a novel coronavirus was doing rounds in the media. Kerala was already prepared to handle the situation. At the time of the student's arrival, the WHO was yet to announce the virus a pandemic. It was a clear case of proactive governance from the part of the Kerala government.
Talking to HuffPost, the minister for health, KK Shailaja said, "I just thought of the possibility of Keralite youngsters who study for medicine and engineering in Wuhan getting affected with the disease and then returning to Kerala, causing its spread here. Immediately, I rang up the Kerala Health secretary and shared my concern. The swift action by the department followed by an announcement of a 'state calamity' prevented many tourists from cancelling their travel plans to Kerala.
Since then the Kerala government has been in overdrive setting up Covid-19 special hospitals, community kitchens, isolation beds, and surveillance systems to monitor anyone with symptoms. When a group of Keralites who returned from Italy gave a scare to health authorities in Pathanamthitta, the district administration along with collector P.B Nooh sprung into action by tracing the possible contact list of those from Italy, despite declaring the district as a hotspot, the centre eventually congratulated the officials for controlling the spread.
Kerala today has won accolades from all over the world for its commitment to healthcare and education. The Kerala model of development is credited to the renaissance, religious progressiveness, science, art, Christian missionaries and the communists. In a largely capitalist world, Kerala is among the few states in the world to have an elected Communist government at the helms of a pandemic. It's not surprising that during a press conference, the Chief Minister said, "The government will walk ahead of her citizens during the times of the pandemic."
Belbin P Baby
Journalism Faculty
School of Communication | Sacred Heart College
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