Kannankai Kunhiraman: mason who built a rural hospital
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| Kannankai Kunhiraman, Cheruvattur, Kasaragod |
| |
That he was
different from other masons was evident from his acting talents. In fact,
Kannankai Kunhiraman had won the State government’s
best amateur actor award for the year 2003.
And yet it
came as a shock to the people at large when this mason resolved to
construct a
hospital on his own village in Cheruvathur, Kasaragod. Today the
hospital has
become a reality.
With
hindsight, he says that it is the culmination of a 30-year-old dream. However, a more personal reason was the sad
experience
of his own mother. A few years back,
when she was writhing with chest pain, one or two private hospitals
with profit
motive gave her an indifferent treatment.
Using the
savings from his daily wages and contract construction work, from loans
and
chittys, he went ahead with the construction of the hospital. Many good-hearted villagers joined in the
effort in various ways. But perhaps, the
hands that placed the stones of the hospital building one above the
other and
cemented them, was Kunhiraman’s alone.
The
hospital has a capacity for 10 in-patients.
It has a lab and a scanning facility.
Even those
who have no means to pay for the treatment, may use its portals for
emergency
needs, he reassures. And to the doctors
and staff who may have doubt whether a mason would be able to meet
their salary
needs, he has assurance for them too.
When
service in the hospital was requested of potential doctors, they were
quite
willing to do so, he says.
Mathrubhumi
News, May 22, 2023
