Even 64 years after the formation of the State, Kerala is yet to have a unified public health Act covering the erstwhile regions of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar.
A proposal for the purpose is learnt to be stuck in bureaucratic tangle even as the health apparatus is battling the COVID pandemic.
According to Health Department sources, at present there are two Acts governing the public health machinery in the State, the Travancore-Cochin Public Health Act,1955, for the southern and parts of central Kerala and the Madras Public Health Act, 1939, for the rest of the State.
Unsuccessful attempts
Though efforts to unify these two to form a common Act for the entire State had been on for quite some time, they did not succeed for various reasons.
Senior officials claimed that the lack of a common Act was leading to a lot of confusion when it came to the implementation of policies. Notifications would have to be issued separately to cover all the districts. There are also technical differences in the exercise of official power too in the existing Acts.
Functionaries of an organisation representing health officials told The Hindu that a committee was again formed in December 2014 to prepare a unified public health Act.
Law dept.’s contention
However, the Law Department pointed out that some of the provisions in the draft Bill were similar to those in the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act. It also pointed out that since the State already had a Kerala Municipality Act as well as a Food Safety Act, with somewhat equivalent norms, introducing another Act could lead to dispute on distribution of power.
This was followed by consultations with the Directorate of Health Services as well as the State Health Systems Resource Centre, a technical support unit of the Health Department. The distribution of powers was decentralised in the draft Bill and some provisions were removed. The modified proposal was submitted to the Department of Local Self-Government (LSGD), whose approval was yet to come.
Asked about the status of the Bill, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja is reported to have said in the Assembly on March 2 that any follow-up would depend on the report from the LSGD.
