Jacob Vadakkanchery's felicitation cancelled

KOZHIKODE: A felicitation in Alappuzha for Jacob Vadakkanchery, a staunch anti-vaccine propagator, has been cancelled at the eleventh hour after the intervention of medical fraternity. The K.K Kumaran Pain and Palliative Care Society at S.N. Puram, Kanjikkuzhi, organised the programme to be held on Saturday. The function comprised a health session, ‘panacea for cancer’ led by Mr Vadakkanchery followed by the felicitation for his ‘contributions to promoting naturopathic life’. 

Kanjikuzhi grama panchayat president M.G Raju was to inaugurate the programme.  “The organisers inadvertently invited him without knowing his credentials. When we alerted them, they were convinced and abruptly called off the programme,” said Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) vice-president Dr Sabu Sugathan. The district medical office also rose to the occasion and exposed him. 

Alappuzha has registered 98 per cent of the target in the measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign, and Kanjikuzhi is an area where the majority of the children took the vaccine.  “We cannot sit idle when a known anti-vaccine propagator come here to spread his lies. We have put all our efforts to record 98 percent in the campaign,” said district medical officer Dr Vasantha Das. 

The health officials and the public had earlier fired a Cherthala native ‘traditional healer’ from the home district, and the man is now operating in Kozhikode. “Physicians and health workers need to be cautious over the quacks. The fake healers are running a propaganda machine on social media, and the gullible people are falling prey,” noted an official at the Directorate of health services (DHS).