Health Minister announces special healthcare package for Wayanad

Health Minister K. Muraleedharan has announced a special healthcare package for Wayanad comprising more than a dozen projects.

He was inaugurating ‘Kayakalpam’, a public outreach initiative of the Health department, at Kalpetta on Friday (July 3, 2026).

A super-speciality hospital will be established in the district soon, Mr. Muraleedharan said. He noted that the site currently identified to relocate the Government Medical College, Wayanad, had been found unsuitable as it falls within a reserved forest area.

“The government is exploring the possibility of identifying an alternative site at Mananthavady. If a decision is not taken quickly and infrastructure development is not expedited, the medical college could lose its recognition next year. To avert this, a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister will be convened soon to take an appropriate decision,” he said.

The Minister said the Vythiri taluk hospital would be upgraded as the district model hospital, and the foundation stone for its Critical Care Unit would be laid soon. To address the shortage of MRI scanning services in the government sector, an MRI scanner will soon be installed at a major government hospital in the district. Adequate staff posts will be created and personnel appointed in all government hospitals in the district, he said.

Mr. Muraleedharan said the government would also take steps to release pending funds for various healthcare projects. “A dedicated building will be constructed for the District Medical Office (Health), which currently functions without its own office building. The Sulthan Bathery taluk hospital will be upgraded as a district hospital,” he said.

Mobile medical units will be established in areas affected by human-wildlife conflict. In view of the rising number of cancer patients in Wayanad, a detailed study will be conducted, the Minister said.

He said the family of Aneesh, a resident of Kambalakkad who is undergoing treatment for motor neuron disease, would be provided financial assistance for treatment under the Arogya Kiranam scheme.

The Minister said water quality testing would be intensified to prevent waterborne diseases, including shigellosis. He added that the Health department’s effective intervention had successfully contained the spread of the Nipah virus, and that coordinated efforts had helped bring the shigellosis outbreak under control.

Agriculture Minister T. Siddique presided.