What frustrates committed medical professionals like Dr. Haris Chirackal, head of Urology at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, is not just the bureaucracy that drags out the procurement of vital surgical tools—but the indifference and systemic decay plaguing Kerala’s public health infrastructure.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of a nearly ₹1 crore portable digital X-ray machine donated by Samsung to the Palakkad District Hospital during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Installed on July 16, 2021, the state-of-the-art machine was meant to ease patient care, especially for the elderly and immobile. A quick quality check followed five days later. Yet, no one used it.
By October 6, barely three months in, rats had gnawed through its wires. Hospital authorities kept this under wraps until public pressure forced the truth into the open.
The truth-seeker was Boban Mattumantha, a public activist who uncovered the negligence. During the pandemic, when pressure mounted on diagnostic services, Mattumantha learned from nurses that an unused X-ray machine could ease the crowd. When he inquired, officials claimed all machines were functioning. Suspicious, he filed RTI applications and escalated the matter up to the health minister.
A probe in August 2022 confirmed rat damage—but not the hospital’s failure to secure the room, despite contractual obligations. As per the formal agreement, the hospital was to renovate the room and ensure proper infrastructure for the equipment, including pest control. None of this was done.
Samsung, under no obligation to repair rat damage, initially quoted ₹96,519, which later rose to ₹31.91 lakh. The hospital refused to pay.
Today, the machine lies defunct, the Vigilance probe launched in 2023 stagnant. Mattumantha, still awaiting a statement recording, says, “The department issues advisories on preventing rat fever, but can’t stop rats from destroying a vital diagnostic machine. It’s not just rats—it’s rot in the system.”