SIVAGANGA
Close to 2.80 crore COVID-19 vaccine shots had been administered out of 12 crore shots necessary to cover the entire eligible population in Tamil Nadu, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma. Subramanian here on Sunday.
Speaking at a function here to launch an oxygen generation plant established with the support of Kanal, an NGO, and the Government Hospital, he said that the State had 15 lakh vials in hand. More vaccine shots were coming from the Union government. He urged all the eligible people to get inoculated through the designated vaccination centres in their towns.
Thanking the Chief Minister M K Stalin for his bold steps during the health emergency, which had shaken the State, Mr Subramanian said that today, Tamil Nadu was better placed to handle the third wave of COVID-19, which has been making rounds.
The government and the doctors are confident of preventing deaths due to the virus any more. The vaccine shots can be had round the clock from Monday onwards at all the Government Headquarters Hospitals in the State, which was launched in Chennai two days ago, he said and added that T.N. government's commitment to protect the poorest of the poor had been implemented through the "Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam".
The new and innovative concept of reaching out to the needy patients with basic drugs and infrastructural facilities such as physiotherapy centre, testing for BP and providing dialysis at their doorsteps would go a long way in saving hundreds of lives from the clutches of death, the Health minister said and appealed to the people to utilise the program well.
In Sivaganga district, Mr Subramanian said that within just a month of starting the programme, about 4000 needy patients have benefited. He thanked the doctors, frontline workers and the NGOs, with whose support, the district administration and the Health Service officials were able to work effectively.
In T.N., he said, 15 lakh people have benefited through the "Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam" scheme so far and by the calendar year-end, one crore needy patients from the economically weaker sections would benefit.
In Madagupatti panchayat in Sivaganga panchayat union, he visited a Home for the Aged and handed over drugs to the inmates and inquired about their health condition.
Accompanied by District Collector P Madhusudan Reddy, MLAs Maangudi and Tamilarasi, Dean Revathy and Joint Director of Health Services Illango Maheswaran, he also visited Okkur village, where a philanthropist had raised a building at ₹ one crore for the government to use it as hospital.