UCAN: Indian Catholic Church reels under viral fever
6/12/2007
UCANews
KOTTAYAM, India (UCAN) ? The church in Kerala has launched a campaign against viral fever, as diseases associated with it have killed many in the southern Indian state.
The administration has sought help from the army to contain the outbreaks, which have hit areas mostly in Palai Syro-Malabar diocese and Tiruvalla Syro-Malankara archdiocese.
"Thousands of people in our diocese are down with viral fever and chikungunya," said Father Thomas Valummel, who directs Palai diocese's Social Service Society.
The viral attacks have forced the diocese to close its schools, the priest told UCA News June 12. "Even Sunday Mass attendance has declined, as most families suffer from the attacks," he added. The diocese has 161 parishes.
Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral fever from eastern Africa, spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which breeds in fresh water. The name of the illness, from the African Swahili language, literally translates as "that which bends up," a reference to the positions victims take to relieve joint pains.
According to state Health Minister P.K. Sreemathi, the monsoon-related viral attacks have claimed 67 deaths in the state as of June 11. "Around 15,000 persons have been admitted to hospital and another 65,000 have sought medical help in hospitals," she told UCA News.Sreemathi has sought the federal government's help to tackle the problem. The Indian army has already sent its medical corps to affected areas while the state government has launched a cleaning and anti-mosquito campaign.
Sreemathi also appealed to social organizations and NGOs to join the campaign against water-borne diseases.
Last year, a similar viral fever and chikungunya attack killed 167 people in Kerala's coastal districts where most of the state's Latin-rite Catholics live. This year, the diseases hit the hilly areas where the Oriental Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics predominate.The two Oriental-rite Churches, along with the Latin-rite Church, make up the Catholic Church in India.
Father Valummel said most of the cases reported this year were from rubber plantations in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts. Kerala experiences three months of rainy season starting in June.
Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt of Palai told UCA News that Church NGOs and youth organizations have joined the campaign as well as relief operations. Palai is 2,650 kilometers (about 1,650 miles) south of New Delhi.
The prelate said that at a June 9 meeting, parish priests decided to launch campaigns to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds. Catholic youths and mothers now conduct house visits to educate people on precautionary measures against viral fever, he added.
Bishop Kallarangatt said 30 percent of the beneficiaries of this church initiative are people of other religions. According to him, the viral fever affected 95 percent of Catholics in two parishes.
Father Valummel said the diocese has "distributed free food packets and groceries among the poor" and conducted three medical camps to provide treatment for and raise awareness of the diseases.Father Kurian Kottayil of Mother of Seven Dolours Church in Parathanam, one of the worst affected parishes, said relief operations are inadequate, as many people are still suffering. The priest told UCA News that although he had warned people against viral fever in a Sunday homily, he himself got affected.Father Mathew Punnakulam, director of an archdiocesan nongovernmental organization (NGO), told UCA News viral fever has affected 70,000 people in Tiruvalla. "We have organized a series of campaigns and cleaning operations in our parishes. We have supplied medicines and organized medical camps," he said. "But our resources are limited and demand is very high."
Nevertheless, some people say the church has not taken the matter seriously enough.
Catholic businessman Jasmine Thomas pointed out to UCA News that the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council did not discuss the health crisis when it met on June 9. The bishops addressed problems facing the church's self-financing colleges and retreat centers.
"It shows the church leaders are slow in understanding people's problems," he said.
However, Father Punnakulam said such criticism is unwarranted. Kerala's current health crisis is "complex," he said. "We are trying our best to provide relief operations."
