 2020 December when we examine our careless position is, we cannot imagine that only 0.4 percent. When we called for a volunteer corps for COVID-19, COVID-19 we announced in new media several youngsters, several youth men and women registered in the volunteer corps, COVID brigade. That was a fantastic result because of the activity, the policy of the government, the joint activity and the collective activity of the people. KK Shelja, a name that became synonymous with success when it came to dealing with COVID-19. KK Shelja was the health minister of Kerala when the state dealt with multiple crises, starting from cyclone Oki to clouds to the Nipah virus and then to COVID-19. Under her leadership, the state was able to deal with these crises with utmost care and was able to save many, many lives. However, Shelja teacher has always said that this was not because of her individual effort, but due to collective action. Today, we are joined by KK Shelja to talk about her recently launched book, My Life as Comrade, in which she talks about her tenure as a health minister, her political journey, the Kerala model and much more. So, before we talk about how the state under your leadership managed to keep COVID casualties so low or your experience dealing with the Nipah virus, let's start by your personal journey. In your book, you detail about how your family members participated in many historical struggles and how the fact that your family was based in a place like Kerala, more specifically Kanpur, which is a bastion for the left, shaped the person who you wanted to. So, can you start talking about that, more, tell us more about that? Actually, I didn't intend to write a book about me, but always I am thinking, I was thinking about writing a book with about my grandma and my grand uncles and the great struggles they led in their village at that time. It is according to the left ideology that is in 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and when we got independence during the independence struggle, our places, all the Kerala lands were under the ownership of the landlord and the poor peasants were in great struggle and they were actually they were starving because these landlords were collecting levies from the poor people there and the caste system, the most vulnerable or ugly face of the feudalism is caste differentiation and caste differentiation was also there in our village and my grandma and grand uncles were fighting against the British rule and also against the caste system, caste untouchability, such kind of activities there. And when I was a child, my grandma told me all the stories. She was a very good storyteller, not only Varana and Vihasa, she was telling the stories of great martyrs, great struggles they led and I was very much interested in communist ideology from childhood itself and my place, Pahayam Panchayat and that Pahayam and nearby places where the places of great freedom struggle and also these peasants struggled against landlords at that time and my grand uncles called M.K. Ramu, M.K. Krishnan, I explained in my book about that and they were also great fighters and they joined in international congress first and fought against independence, for independence against British rule. They believed that when we got independence only through socialism we can make equality to the poor people and this kind of struggles and their bravery that attracted me very much and my grandma was a brave lady, she directly fought against untouchability and not only fighting but also she was a social worker more than that, she served the society from this socialist ideology, she developed an attitude to help others and this kind of thing I want to put for the next generation that is the reason to write this book you know. Absolutely and of course you were telling stories about your grandmother how she was a revolutionary but I think in many ways so was your mother right I mean she when there was fight in her marriage she sought a divorce which was very rare at the time for a woman to take such a decision. So how did the woman in your family influence you and later on your work in the Mahila association and as the minister of a woman inside development? Yes all the women in my family have had different stories you know one way or other way they were suffering with these attitudes of the society and the customs and traditions etc. My grandma went outside for social work but at that time my mother and mother's sister my auntie they had to work at home you know they had to do all the household activities and our family as you know was a well-built family in the beginning when my great grandfather was there he was working in the estate of the British estate T estate and she had some monthly salary at that time and we were in a good position in the society we are earning some money but after that after the demise of my great-grandfather everything went away and my uncles become the party workers and they are not earning anything they are spending all the money with them and we become ruptured and my family become very poor at that time my mother and my auntie they worked hard to to to meet the ends of the life you know and he shuffled very much and at that time marriages as I explained in these books no one asked the permission or desire of the women about the marriage life the grandangles were deciding they are deciding they were deciding to whom they will get married you know same way my mother also get married to a man my father 20 years older than her and no one asked her permission she obeyed all the family they were obeying that was the custom that was the system in that day and my mother worked hard she was a very good lady but she was a brave lady and when she was separated or my father go and marry other women and she discarded our family at that time she decided to fight against that she filed a case in the court that was not common at that time you know and we got this something from my father the land ownership and also some money from him and that way she fought against him that also made me some feeling of draveness so this is the way to life we should have to fight against this kind of this discrimination and other things so how did this whole struggle translate into your work as a woman leader and you know of course people always highlight your role as a health minister but at the same time you were also serving the portfolio of the minister of women and child development so from this experience what did you put into your work yes my grandma always took me in all the struggle and all the meetings and conventions etc study classes etc i was a little child at that time and she carried me also and from there itself i was interested in these politics you know that way i came forward i became the unity secretary the village secretary area secretary district secretary state secretary and at last i i reached the party also party area committee member district committee member state committee member now i am cpim senate committee member gradually i came forward in and i contest in election party asked me to contest in assembly election that was the first election i was conducted contested that was in 1996 and i became MLA Kerala assembly and i contested four times and i became MLA four times this is the fourth time you know and last time the third time my party asked me to to join the cabinet they decided a portfolio to me and that was health and family welfare and social justice later social justice department divided into two social justice women and children and i become a minister in 2016 to 2021 that was the journey political journey by me and what were the policies you wanted to implement you did implement when you reached this position when i become the minister the most important portfolios health and family welfare the other is also very important you know i got most important portfolios women and children and the social justice everything but when my secretary Rajiv sadhana then health secretary visited me first he asked the minister what is your intention what is your idea in the health sector and you please tell me and we will work for you we have a very good manifesto you know ldf left democratic friends manifesto and under the leadership of the our brave chief minister penlai vgm we were working to fulfill that that manifestos i said in our manifesto it is stated that our health policy should be presented we should give affordable treatment to old citizens we should give free treatment for the poor below poverty line and also we should give quality treatment you know that means we should have to strengthen the public health system and one of my aim or my dream is to the we should concentrate on the prevention parts you know so i discussed with my secretary that i want to concentrate on primary health system he was very happy at that time madam you are correct we should concentrate on primary health system we can prepare a primary health project it was there the central government is also saying about that but it is not to concrete we should have a concrete plan for the primary health system not only the primary we should have to attend the secondary level and tertiary also the district level and taluk level hospitals and the medical colleges the entire system we should have to revive we should have some some kind of reforms because we have a very good public health system you know comparing to other states you know but our public health system was not modelled in some aspects there are so many things there and we should have to reform that also we were ready to preparing that kind of a plan at the same time the government decided four missions four missions our chief minister said one mission should be in health sector that was a great blessing to health sector also and for the poor people one is called aardram that is in health sector so we frame our reform plan according to the mission plan you know aardram mission and we started that was a very good idea and now i am when i look back or when i remember all these things back that was a very good period you know that five years is thickly packed activities we can say so so many challenges we faced so many challenges to devastating floods and the hurricane called doki nipah virus attack and covid virus attacks amidst that we didn't give up the plan we have reforms in every sector of health we converted the primary health system to family health system each institution should have 50 lakhs two two and a half crores to build it some places only a little bit renovation and we should provide the equipments some places we should demolish the building and build a new one and we started that revolutionary work you know in my period more than 400 hospitals become these family health centers now it is going on it is going on for medical college we made master plan for from 500 crores to 800 crores like that and it is working you know i think after three or four years kerala's infrastructure public health infrastructure will become fantastic it is going on and you talked about the conversion of primary health centers to family health centers a major role a major responsibility to do this was also played by the people the government the health ministry mobilized people to you know raise funds and to carry out efforts which led to this conversion can you talk about this how this was carried out it was a very good teamwork you know building team inside health sector and outside the society also we cannot work alone you know because we were getting a bigger amount from the central government for the health sector the central government is spending only 2 percent of the GDP in the health sector we are getting that amount we can utilize that money in some sector but we have to mobilize resources from the society itself uh chief minister said that your work should be people-centered and collectively you should do that you should inform people and you should mobilize people it is a people it should be a people-centered work and when we started building this primary health center to family health center we were getting little bit money from government because we are getting money from Kifbe for the major hospitals but we have to work this our own and our department had only little fund a mission means there should be the need of a group of people's work you know a teamwork we are going to the society please convene a meeting in your place in your panchayat calling all the interested people nearby and you explain our mission to them and we have this much of money and you should also give some money for us some services the panchayat they were they have some project they decided to put some project on health and they are giving some money for that some 25 lakhs to 50 lakhs panchayat can give the concerned MLA member of Registrative Assembly they can give fund from the their fund also there we have some MLA SDF fund there and so many people came forward to help us it is continued I think so when the NEPA virus struck how prepared was the government and you know what was the response yes it was a cruel thing you know NEPA virus and I didn't heard or I didn't noticed this virus before maybe heard about that when we read something but I didn't even imagine that this virus will come to our place you know and when I understand it is NEPA virus called you could a village called Chandru and T.P. Ramakrishna the then minister for for exercise and work was the MLA there he called me before some days and said teacher something peculiar is happening here in a family four people caught some kind of fever cough etcetera and one died in medical college the other three are struggling for health for life and something peculiar is there please come and see what is happening here we said that please send the sample to the virology lab they send the sample to Manipal lab I called doctor Arun the virologist there he said madam it is something peculiar we are identifying I will call you back when I started co-ecode I mean it is the way I don't call me by road I was going that he said that it was NEPA and I asked him what is the peculiarity of the virus he said it mortality rate is very high 70 to 100 there was no medicine there was no vaccine it was a very killer virus it is known as killer virus and I asked Arun doctor can we fight against it yes definitely we should have to fight then I asked Arun you please start you also come to co-ecode I'm going directly to that we have a very good meeting we discussed everything we decided to fight against that first of all I asked the doctors that if anyone go outside from this village and they were with the virus because the incubation day date is 40 days you know incubation period if anyone got a virus at once it will not come the symptoms will not come outside after four days five days or even after 13 days the symptoms will come and at that time the media men said minister all the people are packing up and going to other places from Chandru we were frightened to hearing that next morning we want to go there we decided to go there when I decide I said I will go there and I will directly inform the people about the government's decision all the time I was discussing the chief minister and chief minister said we do everything and you want the to contain these things we can protect the people we will supply everything for the people and I got the freedom and I got the courage to do these things there and we went there we laid the very next day and we asked them into a peculiar virus is spreading we cannot go outside you should stay here we will provide everything even you want a toothbrush or toothpaste rice or pulses anything you want government will provide you in your lower step all and use will come and if you develop any symptoms within these days we will take you to the hospital that way we stopped the movement first you know that is the clear cut method to stop the infectious virus you know whenever it happens we should close that area and we should contain the propagation or the contain the infection of the virus and that succeeded and only these 18 people they got the virus from the index case sabith and no other person got from other others from the index case they got 18 caught the virus and 16 died and to survive and then when covid struck did this experience with nipa guide your response you know was the preparation beforehand how did that definitely that was a great experience the nipa incident you know I remembered that when I me and my health secretary and other officials went to medical college the medical college principal asked me to have some meetings there in covid medical college because everyone was frightened at that time and we went to that medical college the I think it is the third day or second day or third day we went there but everyone was frightened you know and look someone is not looking up and one young doctor shouted or she he showed his worries she he said that we are ready to tackle the problem we are ready to work in the isolation work but the seniors should have to support us and we are once and we are going to die we decided and we send our family away from our house and I told them no need to die you know we should have to practice the prevention method you do have to use the PPE personal protection equipment you should have training today itself you know we have donning and doffing of the personal protection equipment and you should be brave enough to fight and at last we all decided these doctors nurses decided to fight the problem and they have training the very same night throughout the night they were giving training to wearing PPE cleaning everything very good training but when covid came when I heard the news that the first case we examined who came from Wuhan for covid positive I was in Trivandrum at that time I was conducting a night work at that time at once I read to the Trishut district go to the Trishut district and I mean it is the way I asked them to convene a meeting as previously and there were a very good number of health soprens of the hospitals in Trishut district medical college HODs and all the officials were assembled I found some enthusiastic face there and I asked them are you ready to fight yes madam you are ready no problem I think they got the enthusiasm from the NIPPA inshah how we fought again all of them were not participated in the NIPPA incident you know but they called the people who participated in NIPPA about the isolation ward protocol and the standard operating procedures etc everyone were aware of that and they were very ready I thought they got the enthusiasm from the knowledge they got from the deadly virus NIPPA that helped me also I am also enthusiastic I was because it was the second time we are facing a difficulty you know and of course the success of you know the the strategy the government applies is also dependent on how the people respond in Kerala we saw cooperation and trust but in many other places of in your even the world this was missing so how were you able to ensure yes care I think all of all of them know that two things are there one Kerala is highly educated state you know our our literature this percentage is 100 percent literature in Kerala you know men and women were educated and I think they can understand the problem easily and they can go and second thing Kerala there is a social attitude in most of the Kerala's people not all we can not say so but the the joint activity and the volunteer ship they were ready you know when we called for a volunteer core for COVID-19 COVID-19 we announced in no media several youngsters several youth men and women registered in the volunteer core you know COVID brigade and that kind of attitude was there another thing our government's policy that is the most important thing our government when we we were tackling with this problem it was our government which declared this is a health emergency first our chief minister declared this is a health emergency you know after that central government declared that because it is it came in Kerala first the COVID and also the chief minister panrayavijan declared 20 000 crore worth package you know before this central government's declaration and that kind of a spontaneous activity that was in Kerala's society and the left government was very very pro to the this kind of activities you know that helped very much the government's policy and government's people-centered activity helped us very much and our public health system also our chief minister convened a meeting of the private hospital owners from the very beginning and we appealed them this is a the severe problem health emergency is there and also this is a problem we have to tackle together so you should have to give some beds from your hospital for isolation birds the major private hospitals should give 100 beds and the little one and they should have at least 10 or 15 beds they obeyed and we declared the free treatment to all the fee we decided not the private hospitals we sure they are not asking us we will decide the fees and that we will give to the private hospitals and all of them cooperated that is why we can tackle the problem easily in 2020 you know 2020 December when we examine the Kerala's position is we cannot imagine that only 0.4 percent death and some agencies have a survey on excess death they conducted an excess death analysis fantastic result 2020 the covid year 29 deaths were less than 2019 2019 from 2019 the number of deaths were less than 2019 in 2020 you know and that happened only five or six places in the world Vietnam Cuba New Zealand like places and Kerala was there that was a fantastic result because of the activity the policy of the government the joint activity and collective activity of the people the police every department so so the collective work collective work helped us thank you thank you so much for talking to us today and that's all the time we have this was our conversation with KK Shelja the former health minister of Kerala and on her recently launched book my life as a comrade for more such stories visit our website newsclick.in and follow us on all our social media handles thank you for watching