New facilities announced for medical services in TN

CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said that Tamil Nadu ranks first in the Food Safety Index in the country and Eat Right Campaign. In order to strengthen the awareness on the food safety, the department will organise campaigns to educate people on reuse of cooking oil and to avoid wrapping food in newspapers and other printed materials.

The State has a high number of beneficiaries from the e-Sanjeevani portal, thus telemedicine facilities will be extended to all medical college hospitals in the State.

With a plan to strengthen the security systems in PHCs, CCTV cameras will be set up at a cost of Rs 10.17 crore in 2,286 government PHCs in rural and urban areas.

Additional buildings in PHCs in rural areas and sub-health centers will be constructed at a cost of Rs 62.40 crore and Rs 49.30 crore respectively. The sub-health centers in urban areas will be developed at a cost of Rs 80 crore.

For mental health and rehabilitation facilities, an amount of Rs 5.23 crore is planned to identify areas where more awareness and intervention needs to be done to provide mental health counselling and rehabilitation services at all medical establishments. At least Rs 8.80 crore will be spent on providing neurosurgery at 11 medical college hospitals with high precision equipment for brain injury for accident victims.

Among other announcements for the medical fraternity, the Government Dental College Hospital in the city will get a new hostel block at a cost of Rs 64.90 crore. As many as 4,133 medical staff will be appointed by the Tamil Nadu Medical Staff Selection Board for the existing vacancies in the State.

The 60,587 urban sanitary workers will undergo full body check up and special camps will be organised for them by the health department by the municipal authorities and Corporations. A separate room will be provided for the sanitation workers in government hospitals in all the government medical college hospitals.

The Stanley Medical College and Hospital will be procuring equipment for Advanced Master Health Checkup at the hospital at a cost of Rs 1.65 crore. Of the various urban health care projects, the tower block construction of government hospitals in Madurai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Avadi, Velampalayam, Salem and Tirunelveli is under progress. The State Health Department has initiated the steps to establish a Siddha University and the first Siddha Medical College in Palayamkottai is being strengthened with modern facilities.