Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday reiterated the Tamil Nadu government's request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet at least 50% of the cost of RT-PCR tests through the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund as the State was facing financial difficulties as a result of incurring such expenses continuously.
Speaking during a videoconference with the PM, Union Ministers and the Chief Ministers of six other States badly affected by COVID-19, Mr. Palaniswami highlighted that Tamil Nadu was continuing with its strategy of aggressive, targeted testing and was conducting the maximum number of RT-PCR tests in the country, with an average capacity of 85,000 RT-PCR tests a day.
“As of date, 66,40,058 samples have been tested for COVID-19. As many as 5,52,674 persons have tested positive, and there are only 46,350 active cases in the State. These tests cost nearly ₹6.8 crore a day,” Mr. Palaniswami said. He said he had visited and reviewed the performance of 26 districts, which have been effective in controlling the spread of the pandemic.
Acknowledging the receipt of ₹511.64 crore from the Centre in two tranches under the Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness package, out of a total of ₹712.64 crore allotted to Tamil Nadu, he requested that the package for the State be enhanced to ₹3,000 crore.
As Tamil Nadu had completely exhausted the State Disaster Response and Mitigation Fund, Mr. Palaniswami requested an immediate ad-hoc grant of ₹1,000 crore from the NDRF to fight the pandemic. “Releasing pending CMR subsidy of ₹1,321 crore at this time will facilitate paddy procurement,” he said.
“Tamil Nadu is providing effective medical treatment, which has helped the State maintain a low death rate, currently at 1.62% — among the lowest in the country,” he said. “As of date, 4,97,377 patients have recovered, which works out to a recovery rate of about 90%, one of the highest in the country,” he added.
“As of date, no district has a positivity rate of over 10%,” the CM noted.
Referring to the Bill that was passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly providing 7.5% internal reservation in UG medical courses from the current academic year for NEET-qualified students who had studied in State government schools, Mr. Palaniswami said the legislation had been sent to the Governor for his assent. “This is expected to bring equity and social justice to predominantly poor students,” he said.
T.N. a role model: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday commended the efforts put in by the Tamil Nadu government towards contact tracing of COVID-19 patients and containing the spread of the pandemic.
A State government-issued press release quoted the PM as saying that Tamil Nadu was a role model for other States.
He is also said to have expressed the hope that deaths would decline further due to the steps taken by the Tamil Nadu government.