Thiruvananthapuram: Considering its exposure to the entire world, with more than 3 million people from the state living abroad, Kerala was always going to be the state in India most prone to the coronavirus. But nearly three weeks after the coronavirus struck India, Kerala appears to be fighting the battle most efficiently, led smartly by its school teacher-turned health minister, K.K. Shailaja.
Obviously, the fear-mongers – and the coronavirus – had not bet on a decent public health system and a hands-on health minister, like Shailaja.
The first of those fleeing Covid-19 in China arriving in Kerala were medical students from the state, who left Wuhan as early as January 2020. What started as a trickle soon became a flood of expats landing at Kerala’s four international airports in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur, posing a steep challenge to Shailaja and her dedicated at the Directorate of Health Services.
The 63-year-old Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) central committee member, who had once been a chemistry teacher at the Sivapuram High School in Kannur, had to draw from all her organisational expertise, and first-hand experience of battling Nipah two years ago, to take on the coronavirus battle.
'The teacher'
‘Teacher’ – as she is called by everyone around her owing to her background – is a workaholic even in normal times, and the coronavirus has just stretched her working hours. “By 6.45am she is already calling the state health secretary, followed by calls to important officials and she has a hurried breakfast around 8.30am, glancing at newspapers simultaneously, before rushing to her office at state secretariat,” said her personal assistant, Pramod Kumar K.
Within her team, she is a picture of confidence, exuding positivity. “These days she has numerous phone calls to attend, getting the latest updates from various districts, giving instructions to medical teams and stepping in to solve crises that prop up every now and then,” Kumar said.
Her two sons – one of them based in the Gulf, the other living in Kannur – are sometimes unable to get her on the line. They call up Kumar to ask “Is mum busy?”
She may not be able to take their calls, but they can see the accolades she gets, including on international networks like the BBC.
Underlining the fruits her efforts are bearing, Maharashtra with 26 patients has overtaken Kerala in the patient count on Sunday.
'Cryptic Keralite view of things'
At home, however, she has to defend herself against the characteristically cryptic Keralite view of things. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala accused her of “media mania”, as she addresses the press every few hours. Amid her punishing schedule these days, Shailaja had little time to counter him, merely dismissing the comment as “sad”.
There is also criticism that though the federal government had issued a notice on February 26 to screen all passengers at airports, a couple and their son travelling from Italy, who were coronavirus patients, slipped through on February 29 and passed on the disease to several others.
On Sunday morning, the phones were ringing again. A British national who had tested positive for coronavirus and had boarded a flight from Kochi for Dubai was identified at the last minute, and the British contingent in the aircraft had to be deplaned. Another mini-crisis, and Shailaja was on her feet again.
