Tomato fever: No case in TN, vigil stepped up along border, says Ma Su

TIRUCHY: People should not panic as there is no report of tomato fever in Tamil Nadu and a regular monitoring has been stepped up in as many as 13 spots in the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border, said state Health Minister Ma Subramanian in Tiruvarur on Saturday.

Inspecting ongoing developmental projects in Tiruvarur district and distributing medicines to beneficiaries under Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam, the Health Minister said that as many as 67.47 lakh people have been benefited by the scheme in which as many as 2,027 hospitals have been roped in for screening diabetes and the programme has received a huge response among the public.

On Tomato fever being reported in Kerala, the Health Minister asked the people not to panic as there was no cases in TN. “Still, we are vigilant and continuous monitoring are underway in as many as 13 spots in the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that 50 new PHCs, including 25 Urban PHCs have been announced by the Chief Minister and the works have commenced to establish them across the state. Among them, the PHC which was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1955 at Koradacheri which has been in a dilapidated condition would be replaced with a new building.

He said that there was no improvement in Tiruvarur Medical College for the past 10 years and the development works are being carried out now. “a new Cathe lab to the tune of Rs 2 crore would be established and 50-bed critical care units to the tune of Rs 23.75 crore would be established in the hospital while a Trauma Registry Software to record the cases would be launched by the Chief Minister soon. This apart, a lab facility to the tune of Rs 8.77 crore, haemophilia disease unit, telemedicine scheme and other programmes are underway in,” he added.

Answering a query on the contract staff who were appointed by the previous government, the Minister said that they were given priority in the government appointments for their dedicated work during the pandemic. So far, we have appointed over 7,000 staff in the department including the regularisation of those temporary staff, he said.