In mother’s memory, Resul Pookutty charts a sound health plan for his native place in Kollam

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to health and Resul Pookutty will vouch for it. The Oscar-winning sound designer believes his mother would have lived longer had he been aware of her chronic diabetes and other treatable health conditions.

To prevent others from struggling like his mother, he is now on a mission to help people, who live away from home, and keep a tab on the health of senior members of their families. A predictive healthcare analytics system is one of the highlights of the development programme for 33 government healthcare centres in Kollam charted out by the Resul Pookutty Foundation (RPF).

The system will help healthcare providers in diagnosis and treatment. Also, the government can easily identify the vulnerable in pandemic situations. Among the different aspects of predictive analytics, Pookutty says the technology can be used by people living abroad to get real-time updates on their parents’ health back home. “It would help non-resident Keralites effectively monitor the health of their family members at home. Analytics will help healthcare providers give quality care to the elderly,” he said.

“My mother, who always encouraged me to chase my passion, died at 63. I was living in Mumbai and was not aware of her conditions. All I knew was that she had diabetes and hypertension. I too believed that her occasional bloating was due to eating pulses or some other dish. Today, I’m aware that it can be a symptom of cardiovascular disease,” he said. 

Pookutty, who hails from Vilakkupara near Anchal, says he’s a big admirer of public institutions as he had an education there and his life was twice saved by doctors of government hospitals. “Doctors of the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram saved me from a paralysis-like condition at the age of two. Again at the age of nine, experts there cured my acute jaundice. I was taken to the hospital in a severe condition,” he recalls. 

Pookutty’s schooling and higher studies were in government institutions, including the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. “I’m a product of public institutions. What more reason do I want to devise a programme like this? This is a kind of giving back to society,” he says. Pookutty is looking for well-wishers to support the expensive project.

He says the work of the first centre will start only after mobilising full money, because the chief minister has advised him: “Once we lay the foundation stone, we should finish the project in time.” The RPF project involves raising the standards of the community health centre at Anchal and the four primary health centres and five main centres and 23 sub-centres under it. The foundation has prepared the DPR for developing one main centre and four sub-centres. The first phase involves the development of the Yeroor main centre and sub-centre.

Pookutty says the DPR was prepared after analysing the health, social and economic conditions of people in the Anchal health block. “Based on the projected population growth in the next 25 years, the study found that the sub-centre requires a 3,000-sq-ft area and the main centre 6,000-sq-ft area. There will be separate rooms for doctors, consultation and procedures,” he says.

Sustainable buildings and carbon offsetting are to be developed. Solar power systems will be installed to make them economically sustainable. The project cost for one sub-centre is about Rs 3.25 crore. The foundation will train the staffers and plans to offer assistance for the initial two years.