Dr. Rajan N. Khobragade IAS
Thrissur MCH’s Unmatched Disaster Response During Thrissur Pooram Tragedy
Kerala Health has taken a huge effort to identify each major festival at Panchayath, block and in the district. In order to motivate all field functionaries, some of the foundational initiatives such as Pandemic Preparedness Plans, disaster management plans, festival management plans were taken to strengthen the health system. Since Nov 2025, specific meetings at the state and district level were conducted. As per the requirement capacity building sessions at district level as well as at the ‘Learning site- Alappuzha’ were conducted.
Some of the health fraternity were skeptical, asking why should we be doing these pandemic preparedness plans, festival management plans etc. Later at the field level they undertook this challenging task. Thrissur district team have taken the preparation seriously. They were ready with the plans and that is the reason that within 8 minutes the whole management system was operationalized as per the protocols developed. The disaster was tragic. However, the team managed it without any stress. The noteworthy aspect is the regular emergency cases were also handled without any difficulty. It is very evident that a good prepared plan and built capacity will always assist to manage any eventuality. This is the way we need to build Kerala Health System.
