Rejig at Centre hits TN’s efforts to shore up dwindling vax stock

The unexpected rejig of the Union Cabinet has hit Tamil Nadu’s desperate efforts to shore up vaccine doses to hold the inoculation drive as fast as possible, as Medical and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian was forced to postpone the scheduled visit to Delhi to hold discussions with Union Health Minister on increase the supply of doses to the State. 

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event in Chennai, Subramanian said the revised schedule on meeting the new Health Minister, Mansukh Mandavia, would be decided soon. The Minister was initially scheduled to visit the national capital on Friday to hold discussions with Mandavia’s predecessor Harsh Vardhan on increasing vaccine supply to Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, State Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan proceeded with the official trip and left for Delhi on Thursday evening. 

“Now, we are hoping to hold the meeting with the new Minister by next week. Tamil Nadu is not receiving adequate vaccine stock compared to our population. So we have been urging the Union government to increase the allocation,” Radhakrishnan told reporters at the airport. 

Other than enhancing vaccine allocation, Minister Subramanian added that he would discuss other matters, including admission to the new medical colleges in the State and also AIIMS-Madurai. 

Tamil Nadu has so far received 1,59,26,050 doses from the Union government, and has administered 1,59,58,402 of them, he said. Currently, 1,74,730 doses are available, and the consignment is scheduled to reach here only on July 11.

People were being screened at the borders of the districts that are reporting high number of COVID cases, he said. "There is no need to worry about the third wave, as we are prepared with 900MT medical oxygen and the required number of concentrators, generators and cylinders," he said. 

Responding to questions on the management of dengue in the event of a surge in cases during the upcoming monsoon season, he said the Greater Chennai Corporation was undertaking sanitation drive and spraying disinfectants using drones. The State has reported 2,090 dengue cases this year so far.

After rising from 402 cases in January to 618 cases in February and peaking at 684 in March, it has fallen to 249 cases in April, 55 in May and 54 in June. Twenty-eight cases have been reported so far in July.

Of the 3,697 mucormycosis cases reported in Tamil Nadu, 456 are under treatment, said Subramanian. As many as 216 persons who recovered from the infection were discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, he added, appreciating the efforts by healthcare workers.