CPI(M) Presses Kerala Health Minister for Answers in SMA Drug Controversy

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan on Friday accused the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala of failing to give convincing answers to parents of children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) about why they were administered a drug meant for clinical trials.

Speaking at a press conference after a CPI(M) State committee meeting, Mr. Govindan said Health Minister K. Muraleedharan had not explained how the drug reached the children. He raised six questions for the Minister and said the government owed the families a clear account.

The CPI(M) leader asked how drugs meant for clinical trials ended up in the hospital, and why they were withdrawn if, as the Minister has said, they were harmless. He also asked whether parents were informed that bioequivalence studies had not been conducted, whether the Medical Services Corporation had carried out quality checks, why tender clauses were relaxed for one particular company, and who would be responsible if the children suffered side effects.

“The CPI(M) has a long history of supporting generic medicines, but the Health Minister has to provide convincing answers,” Mr. Govindan said. The controversy concerns the use of the drug in children with SMA, a rare inherited condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and affects movement.

Drugs meant for clinical trials are normally used under controlled research protocols. Bioequivalence studies are used to show that a generic medicine produces the same effect as an approved reference product. Questions about consent, quality checks and liability are therefore central to the dispute.

Mr. Govindan rejected Mr. Muraleedharan’s statement that decisions regarding the drugs were taken during the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s term. The CPI(M) leader did not accept the explanation and pressed the government to clarify each of the issues raised.

Separately, Mr. Govindan accused the UDF government of trying to scuttle Kerala’s development by dismantling the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). He said development works worth ₹1 lakh crore had been taken up under KIIFB, including health projects worth ₹6,670 crore and public works department (PWD) projects worth over ₹25,000 crore.

He said ₹5,580 crore from KIIFB had been spent on the national highway, and that the project would not have become a reality otherwise. He also cited the construction of 579 school buildings and the hill and coastal highways as examples of KIIFB-backed development. “Central agencies have from the beginning tried to destroy KIIFB to scuttle Kerala’s development. Now, the UDF is implementing that aim,” he alleged.

KIIFB is a State-owned infrastructure financing body. It has been at the centre of disputes between the State and Central agencies. The UDF is led by the Congress and the LDF by the CPI(M); the two fronts are the main rivals in Kerala politics.

Mr. Govindan further accused the UDF of following the BJP’s “corporate Hindutva” policies and said the government’s privatisation agenda was being extended to the health sector. The accusations sharpen the political confrontation between the LDF and the UDF in Kerala, with the CPI(M) seeking to keep the SMA drug controversy and the KIIFB dispute on the public agenda.