Make private healthcare affordable for poor, says CM

CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday said that private participation in the health sector is necessary to cater to a large population, but it should be affordable for the poor to access it.

“Health sector is getting modernised, but it is also becoming costlier. All people should be able to get access to modern health facilities,” CM Stalin said inaugurating the Tamil Nadu Medical Science Conference for ENT here.

Pointing to the modern facilities provided at the government hospitals, he said, “We also provide health insurance and schemes like Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam (Healthcare at the doorstep) but, it is difficult to provide all the services and facilities through the government hospitals to a large population like us.”

Chief Minister Stalin said that the role of the private hospitals in the health sector is also important. “I request to make the cost of the health facilities provided by the private should be affordable for the poor people,” he said, adding that both the education and the health sectors fall under the category of service and it should continue to be so.

“We have globally renowned doctors in the state. Chennai is known as the medical capital,” he added.

Stalin said that he was happy to inaugurate the conference organised by Dr Mohan Kameshwaran, a renowned ENT specialist entirely in Tamil. “Let us develop science in Tamil,” he said. He said that his government recently released medical books translated in Tamil. “We have also taken steps to teach all the vocational courses in Tamil and steps have been taken to translate the books in Tamil,” he added.