Contract staff in Covid duty to be appointed in available vacancies: Ma Subramanian

The six-month contract period of the medical officers appointed for COVID-19 duty is about to end in about 10 days, and further appointments have not been made yet. After Covid cases saw a decline in the past few weeks, these medical officers have been posted in non-COVID-19 wards and await final appointments. Responding to the same, the health minister said that there are not many vacancies currently but appointments will be considered in the available positions in the coming months.

He further said that the 1,300 ambulance emergency staff appointed for COVID-19 duty were also taken in on a contract basis but the staff has requested for permanent appointment. Thus, we have asked Chief Minister MK Stalin for permitting the same. The confirmation of jobs in the State Health Department in the past 10 years has not been done properly and we are trying to rectify the same," Subramanian said.

When asked about the delay in the grant of stipend to the volunteers who were on Covid duty, he said that the stipend for volunteers have been processed.

He visited the Ponneri Government Hospital on Tuesday to inspect the issue regarding the transfer of Chief Medical Officer Dr S Anurathna. Health Minister clarified that the medical officers at the hospital are not transferred currently and he has conducted an enquiry on his own after several rumours were making rounds on social media. He added that the team of medical officers assured to work as a team, with the senior medical officer at the hospital is to retire in six months.

Talking about the flood relief measures undertaken in the Tiruvallur district, he said that the district collector and district administration officials will be visiting the flood-affected areas to distribute the relief materials and address other concerns of the public.