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Nayanar shoots down Hopkins varsity's health plans

D Jose in Thiruvanathapuram

Kerala Chief Minister E K Nayanar has vetoed a state health ministry proposal to set up the Asian Institute for Public Health at Munnar in the hilly Idukki district.

The veto comes following sharp differences among his cabinet colleagues on the Rs 7 billion project, put forward by the Johns Hopkins university, Baltimore, United States.

Besides, the Communist Party of India-Marxist's politburo had instructed the chief minister 'to tread cautiously', as it believed Carl E Taylor, the principal author of the project, to have links with the Central Investigation Agency. Taylor, CPI-M bosses had maintained, was asked to leave India for reasons of national security when he tried to push the same project with the Punjab government a couple of years ago.

At a recent cabinet meeting, the CPI-M's T Sivadasa Menon and the CPI's K E Ismail opposed the project tooth and nail, pointing out several grey areas in it. However, Health Minister A C Shanmughadas, who belongs to the Congress- Socialist, argued going back on the project would send wrong signals to foreign institutions keen to invest in Kerala. Education Minister P J Joseph (of the Kerala Congress Joseph faction) supported Shanmughadas. Such an action would 'impair Kerala’s image,' he said, adding that there were many other states out to grab the project.

All through out, Kerala's health experts had been opposing the project which, they feared, may eventually go on to serve the interests of American corporates, as a major chunk of the needed funds were to come from them. Surprisingly, neither the Johns Hopkins university nor the state government has hitherto bothered to spell out the specific benefits the state would derive out of the project.

The project, which originated during the term of the previous Congress-led government, had found wide acceptance among Malayalee professionals working in America. It was given proper shape by the National Institute of Agriculture's Dr Padmanabhan Nair when V M Sudheeran (Congress) was the health minister. Subsequent discussions between varsity authorities and Kerala officials resulted in the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The institute was to take off with a 10-day international seminar. Now, with Nayanar's veto, neither the CM nor his colleagues will attend the seminar, scheduled to begin in Trivandrum on November 11. However, to avoid embarrassment to the foreign team, a few state government officials will attend the session as observers.

Incidentally, the organisers of the seminar had claimed that President K R Narayanan would inaugurate it, and that the Chittira Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology was its co-sponsor. However, Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said the President had no such plan. Officials at Chittira Tirunal, too, disclaimed the organisers's claim.

Dr Padmanabhan Nair, for his part, had dismissed the criticism against the project as completely baseless. The objective of the institute was to project Kerala as 'a model in health delivery' to developing nations. Further, he said, the project would not be under the direct control of the US varsity. Nayanar, however, as it proves, is not ready to buy that.

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