TN Health Department to upgrade diagnostic facilities

CHENNAI: In order to strengthen the infrastructure for diagnostic services in the State, Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said that the health department will provide integrated laboratory equipment, machines and required consumables at a cost of Rs 304.12 crore.

For the pathological labs, laboratory reagent consumables for all the government medical college hospital laboratories at a cost of Rs 185.24 crore.

With an aim to provide state of the art medical equipment, the high quality MRI, CT scan and other scanning equipment will be provided at a cost of Rs 298.95 crore in the government hospitals across the State. For the emergency services, at least 62 new 108 emergency vehicles, 13 mother and child ambulances and 92 modern medical equipment will be provided at a cost of Rs 21.40 crore.

Since deaths due to cardiac events have increased in the past few years, the department is providing drugs worth Rs 3.37 crore for prevention and treatment of heart attacks in patients at government establishments.

The hospitals will also be provided with 'loading dose' drugs to prevent deaths from hypertension, heart attack and Diabetes in emergency cases at a cost of Rs 3.37 crore.

'Loading dose' reduces the viscosity of the blood, and thus, decreases the severity of heart attack, and death from hypertension and high blood sugar levels.

The Health Minister announced that in order to provide intensive and critical care to pregnant women and children, the maternal and child care services are planned to be developed with the establishment of intensive care units and neonatal care units at a cost of Rs 43.41 crore in the State.

A new initiative to promote walking for health benefits will be launched by the State Health Department. The department will identify an 8 kilometre footpath in all the districts and make arrangements for it to be available for walking. The health department will organise Health Walk on the first Sunday of every month in all these places, in collaboration with the local people. Special medical camps will also be conducted during the event, Subramanian added.