It’s been more than 10 days since 78-year-old Suhasini returned from the COVID First-Line Treatment Centre (CFLTC) at Muttambalam Block Panchayat in Kerala’s Kottayam district.

Her movements are slow lest the fatigue should come back; her appetite is normal but her sense of taste is yet to return; and she never had the fever anyway. But Suhasini doesn’t feel lucky. She doesn’t even smile, because her maid of 16 years refuses to enter the house.

“We thought that we would have a horrible time being sick under the state government’s care,” she says. “But that was a breezy stint when compared to what we are going through now.”

She is not exaggerating. The Kerala government is one of the very few governments in the world that has complete monopoly over its post-pandemic public health system.