At least 80,251 people benefitted under Innuyir Kappom Thittam

CHENNAI: As many as 80,251 people have benefitted from Innuyir Kappom Thittam- Nammai Kakkum 48 in the State so far and Rs 72.89 crore has been allocated for the same, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Monday. He visited the patients benefitted under the scheme the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre.

Health Minister said that in the last six months since the project's launch, more than 500 highways have been identified as accident prone areas and the project has been implemented in a total of 669 hospitals, both public and private. The scheme provides for Rs 1 lakh free treatment at the hospital for first 48 hours.

"Earlier, the accident victim had to be admitted to the hospital and required various practical issues and other details before the treatment can be provided. However, since the cost of treatment is covered under this scheme to save human lives from such accidents. And no matter the accident victim is from which place, they are being treated for free for first 48 hours, " the Health Minister said.

The scheme was also lauded by the officials from the Union Health Ministry and they have asked to share the details of the project to them and assist the Union Health Ministry to implement the project across India. More than 421 patients have been treated at the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre. The Health minister met the accident victim Sakthivel, aged 54, of Villupuram district is the 80,000th person to have been benefitted from the scheme.

Talking about the increasing cases of Covid in the State, health minister said that the only way to fight Covid is vaccine as more than 692 people in TN have tested positive and more than 300 people tested positive in Chennai on Sunday. He said that though the cases are increasing, deaths due to Covid are not there. Since the virus is capable of spreading very fast, it is important to take booster dose, and those who haven't taken both the doses should get vaccinated with the respective doses.

"People aged 18 and above have to pay for vaccination at private hospitals. This has led to a hesitation among people to get vaccinated but we are planning to make it free by bringing it under the CSR activity of the private hospitals. As many as 39.23 lakh people are yet to get vaccinated with the first dose and 1.13 crore people have not received their second dose. The next mega vaccination drive will be conducted on July 10th and we urge more people to get vaccinated at the camp, " he said.