Kerala Opposition Leader condoles Dr. Valiathan’s passing

Kerala's Leader of the Opposition praises Dr. M.S. Valiathan for founding SCTIMST, a pioneering medical research institution.

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on July 18 said the nation owed Dr. M.S. Valiathan for founding the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), a premium medical research institution that earned Kerala and India a pride of place on the global health research and innovation map.

Mr. Satheesan said that, as founder-director of SCTIMST, Dr. Valiathan had opened the door for ordinary people to get highly specialised care at an affordable rate.

For one, Dr. Valiathan retooled SCTIMST to develop heart valves instead of relying on expensive ones imported at high cost and significant delays from foreign countries.

Mr. Satheesan highlighted the scale of Dr. Valiathan’s heart valve initiative, which, he said, provided a fresh lease of life to lakhs of common folk suffering from cardiac illness and significantly improved public health in Kerala.

He remembered that Dr. Valiathan was at the forefront of creating public health awareness among citizens and was interested in other branches of science, including mathematics and Ayurveda.