KGMOA demands an end to overreach by Kerala Health Minister’s private secretary

KGMOA says the Health Minister’s private secretary has no official authority to conduct official inspections of government health institutions or to directly intervene in its administrative affairs

Published - August 07, 2026 06:00 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) has reacted sharply to what it termed was an “overreach” by a private secretary of Health Minister K. Muraleedharan, who, they said was consistently discourteous and arrogant to doctors and other health workers.

The Thiruvananthapuram district committee of the KGMOA has now come out in the open to condemn the Health Minister’s private secretary, who, they said had behaved disrespectfully towards a senior woman colleague and civil surgeon at a community health centre (CHC) while he was on a visit to the CHC on Thursday.

The KGMOA has formally registered a strong protest against the Minister’s private secretary over the incident.

Though primary and community health centres (PHCs/CHCs) are officially required to begin functioning at 9 a.m., the Health Minister’s private secretary publicly rebuked the senior medical officer for not having started work at 8 a.m. Such arrogant behaviour towards a woman doctor with years of experience is not justifiable and cannot be condoned, the KGMOA said.

Such unnecessary interference and attempts to demoralise and undermine the dignity of doctors who have been working sincerely to improve the State’s public health is not acceptable, the KGMOA said.

The KGMOA pointed out that the Health Minister’s private secretary has no official authority to conduct official inspections of government health institutions or to directly intervene in its administrative affairs.

Yet, such “inspections” by the private secretary in health-care institutions seems to continue and there have been multiple occasions when the private secretary chose to behave discourteously towards doctors and other health workers, the association alleged.

Such overreach by the Minister’s private secretary, exceeding his jurisdiction, will affect the smooth and efficient functioning of the State’s health system and adversely affect the morale of health workers.

‘Will resist interference’

The KGMOA said that it will continue to extend its support to all constructive measures taken by the Health Minister to strengthen the State’s public health system and improve the quality of government health institutions. However, the organisation will strongly resist unnecessary interference from the Minister’s office that goes beyond its authority and is demeaning to health workers.

The KGMOA pointed out that it was essential to protect the dignity of doctors and other health workers as well as the administrative autonomy of government health institutions. It demanded that the government take immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of incidents such as the one on Thursday or that the organisation will be forced to launch a strong protest to safeguard the dignity of health workers.

Published - August 07, 2026 06:00 pm IST

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