Kerala Health Minister KK Shyailaja Teacher

KK Shyailaja, rather popularly well-known as Shyailaja Teacher in Kerala, apart from being a household name in the native state is now a renowned personality worldwide. Thanks to her proactive role in containing Nipah and Covid-19 Pandemics, she hit the headlines for doing so not in the home state alone but elsewhere across the globe.

Image: yourstory.com

Interaction with people belonging to different walks of life in Kerala gave a mixed reaction. If most of them were appreciative of her role in handling the health emergencies, there were dissent voices too having their own reservations about the popular perceptions prevailing in the society.

Dr. Bobby.V. Unikrishnan, Assistant Professor at the College of Agriculture, Kerala Agriculture University in Padanakkad, Kasargod opines: Shailaja Teacher is a name to be reckoned with Covid warriors of Kerala. She is a very popular figure in the state because of her coordinated approach in tackling the Pandemic. Even much before she played a pivotal role in containing Nipah, another deadly virus.

"A movie named Virus(2019) was inspired by the exemplary work done by her during the Nipah outbreak. I would say she is one of the best Health ministers the state has seen in recent times. The opposition was trying to pull down her achievements and some misogynistic comments hurled. Thanks to the uproar against the same the opponents had to struggle to douse the fire.

She has created history by winning with the highest number of 60,963 votes at the Mattanur Assembly constituency in the Kannur district and needs no further explanation about her unanimous popularity, he notes.

Dr. SR Narahari, Director of the Institute of Applied Dermatology in Kasargod is full of appreciation for KK Shailaja. He asserts: Ms. Shailaja Teacher is known among doctors, nurses, and public health workers for her 'preparedness' in the meetings. That approach always alerted her technical advisors, the public health bureaucrats, that the decision will be data-driven and scientific. She is known to take team leadership in health matters concerning the public, never ignoring technical advice. As an administrator, she made Kerala hospitals clean and provided the best possible public health units. Today most of the primary care centers in remote villages have MBBS doctors. She did not discriminate against the AYSUH systems too.

He recollects: When the state had a Congress ministry under Oomen Chandy; I noticed that Government hospitals provided an adequate amount of medicines to the sick. In the private sector, we often see patients showing the prescription of Government hospitals and drugs. During the past three years, I noticed in such patients who wanted a second opinion that treatments were suitable, correct in diagnosis and dosage. I am often persuaded not to give any new prescription but advise such patients to continue the same treatment. It makes me believe that she would study each health issue's background for making a decision...

...She was an alert minister. She responded immediately to the emergency needs as it happened to Kozhikode district in 2016 due to the Nipah virus outbreak. The district and some neighboring areas experienced more than one month of lockdown, economically burdening the commercial district. The whole of India probably ignored that time as a local event. It shows the courage in decision-making within lady Shailaja to take such an extreme step probably never heard before in recent times. The experience probably prompted her to immediately quarantine the people who arrived from Wuhan even before administrators outside Kerala realized COVID-19.

More than all, Dr. SR Narahari points out: She is sincere, polite and the state's interest was the only interest for her. For example, once the Kasargod MLA representing the opposition Indian Union Muslim League told me in conversation about the interest expressed by the health minister to visit the Institute of Applied Dermatology. According to him, she made inquiries about the poor Lymphatic Filariasis patients treated in IAD after she read the news. So, she was above party lines when it meant the welfare of the state. Mattanur also rose above party lines to give the largest margin of win in the history of Kerala Assembly elections.

S Ramdas, a Keralite journalist settled in Bengaluru has " several reasons on why Kerala loves KK Shailaja". He lists out the reasons: She is a science teacher turned politician from an average middle-class family. Kerala has always seen educators and teaching facilities as bigger heroes than other professions. Her department has done an excellent job in the past few years. Whether handling Nipah or Covid, Kerala's health department has done very well. Most importantly LDF's PR department has been able to keep her image intact. She has been projected as the model politician, and she is probably that. She has been described as a rock star health minister by International Media.

Her image also rose because of a movie called Virus where a health minister based on her was seen as the decisive decision-maker whose steps saved the state from the dreaded Nipah virus. The movie directed by left-leaning filmmaker Ashiq Abu helped build her image to much larger than life. Unlike other male politicians in the state, she or the Chief minister are minimal communicators. They talk when it is necessary. Finally, it is believed that her landslide win which is a record for the state in the last few elections has resulted in almost 80 percent of women voting for her in her constituency. Supporters also claim that her presence helped CPI(M) to get more women voters across India, he concludes.

However, in quite a contrast to the above opinions Kumar Chellappan, a senior Kerala journalist has altogether a divergent story to reveal: Sixty Five years old KK Shailaja, Health Minister of Kerala managed to hog the limelight during the last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the initial stages, the event managers and public relations agencies hired by the Kerala Government's Department of Public Relations portrayed Shailaja as a superwoman and an extraordinary health administrator. The truth was that the health sector, especially the Government Hospitals and Medical Care Network were crumbling, fretting, and fuming because of policy paralysis...

...The first instance of Covid-19 in South India was reported from Thrissur in Kerala. A student undergoing medical studies in China returned to Thrissur, the hometown of the student, tested positive and the issue was covered up by the media in the state, which is known for its friendliness towards CPI(M) for obvious reasons. Kerala Government through its comrades in the media spread the word that the State has the best medical care system in the country. On May 08, 2020, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the world through his televised daily press briefing that the State has become Covid free. Well, Vijayan had denied Shailaja the chance to brief the media because of her ever-growing popularity. There were comments from certain sources in the CPI(M) and the Left Front that Shailaja was Chief Minister in waiting, he asserts.

Both Shailaja and Vijayan were ordinary folks who read out statements prepared by the Public relations agencies. Only reporters chosen by the Chief Minister's Office were allowed to ask questions! The reports and articles that appeared in international media were sponsored write-ups'. Articles and reports eulogizing the health minister were published as paid write-ups'. One fine morning saw an international journal coming out with a report praising Shailaja to the hilt. The name of the international magazine was British Herald and it was found that the portal was headquartered at Kochi in Kerala!, says Kumar Chellappan.

-Manohar Yadavatti