Kerala Health Minister Veena George | Photo: Thulasi Kakkat
It is not the government’s policy to make patients, who are beneficiaries under various government free treatment schemes, purchase medical equipment or supplies or implants when they seek treatment in government hospitals and it is the responsibility of the heads of healthcare facilities to ensure that patients do not pay for the equipment or medicine, Health Minister Veorge George told the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday (September 2025).
George said that patients under various beneficiary schemes should be provided with all treatments free of cost, whereas other patients, equipment and so on would be provided at a subsidized rate.
During Question Hour, the opposition chose to focus on the situation at Medical College Hospitals (MCHS), which came to light after a viral Facebook post by the head of Urology at Thiruvananthapuram MCH that patients had to buy equipment for surgeries/procedures as the Hospital Development Society (HDS) did not have funds to purchase equipment.
The queries were raised by AP Anilkumar, IC Balakrishnan, Saneeshkumar Joseph and Cr Mahesh.
However, the health minister chose to answer questions by detailing the free medical care the government was providing to the people, the infrastructure additions made in hospitals and how various interventions made by the government in the health sector in Kerala had increased the footprint of government hospitals.
She also chose to dismiss a question raised by Mr. Anilkumar on the ₹1,500 crore that the government owed to hospitals as Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (Kasp) reimbursements, which had made it difficult for common people to access health insurance, saying the finance department had released ₹92 crore and the debt would be cleared soon.
Satheesan hits back
However, Ms George’s constant reticence about statistics on health expenditure during the UDF rule 10 years ago and how the health sector behaved afterwards was later criticised by opposition leader VD Satheesan, who said the health minister had “no clear answers” on how patients were being forced to buy equipment and even surgical cotton on their own.
The opposition also mocked the health minister for failing to fix the “system” despite 10 years.
Ms George said she was presenting all the figures for increased investment in the health sector and challenged Mr Satheesan to challenge them.
She also submitted the report of the Expert Committee which examined the allegations of the Urology HOD on how systemic issues are affecting patient care in medical college hospitals and said that as recommended by the said committee, the MCHS procurement rules should be reviewed to enable the heads of the institutions to procure the required equipment.
Published – September 16, 2025 03:52 PM IST
