‘Minister’s job is not to reply to every question of employees of health department’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Responding to the controversy surrounding the appointment of director in the health department, K Muraleedharan said that he cannot personally respond to the complaints and queries of every employee in the department. The health department has around 57,000 employees, and addressing each of their concerns is not the minister's responsibility, he said.

The minister said priority is to strengthen disease-prevention measures as the state faces a rise in infectious diseases. He declined to comment further on other issues and emphasized that immediate action would be taken based on the recommendations submitted by the high-power committee on disease control.

He added that discussions would be held with ministers from various departments to ensure proper coordination in implementing preventive measures. Precautionary steps to curb the spread of infectious diseases should have begun in February, and there had been shortcomings in the prevention efforts. He also noted that he assumed charge of the department only after the outbreak had already intensified.