500 new postgraduate medical seats will be created, says the Health Minister
Making a total of 118 announcements for the Health Department on Monday, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said 500 new postgraduate medical seats would be created in Tamil Nadu. A scheme to provide nutritious food to patients undergoing haemodialysis at all government medical college hospitals, grant of ₹1,000 every month to 7,618 children affected with HIV/AIDS for their nutrition, education, and medical needs, and provision of dialysis services at 50 upgraded Primary Health Centres in rural areas were among the announcements.
The Minister said 500 new postgraduate seats would be created at the government medical colleges in Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, the Nilgiris, Dindigul, Tiruppur, Tiruvallur, Namakkal, Nagapattinam, Krishnagiri, Ariyalur, Kallakurichi, Pudukkottai and Karur and at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital. He said 642 new health sub-centres would be established on the basis of population in urban and rural areas.
To ensure continuous care for 50,000 low birth weight babies discharged from the Special Newborn Care Units, the Health Department will provide kits at a cost of ₹8.07 crore for meeting their nutritional needs and improving their immunity. These kits would have vitamin D3, iron, and multivitamin drops.
There were a number of announcements for improving dialysis services and for patients on dialysis. People residing in villages with the end-stage renal disease had to travel to cities for haemodialysis. Hence, dialysis services would be provided at 50 upgraded Primary Health Centres through contributions from private entities and volunteers.
The Minister said patients on haemodialysis required protein-rich nutritious food, and such food, comprising milk, egg white, and 'sundal', would be provided at all government medical college hospitals. A hub-and-spoke model would be implemented for dialysis services.
A 'wall of honour', carrying the names of the deceased donors, would be erected at every government medical college hospital. Similar to Thozhilalargal Thedi Maruthuvam, a scheme to screen employees of small commercial establishments for non-communicable diseases would be implemented under Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam.
A total of 50 hand-held X-ray devices would be provided to every health unit district to screen patients for tuberculosis and pneumonia in remote and rural areas. Artificial Intelligence would be incorporated into another six mobile units equipped with digital X-ray for early and prompt diagnosis of tuberculosis.
To ensure that linen is changed every day at government hospitals, the Health Department would implement colour-coded linen, with the day printed for each day of the week. Among other announcements are establishment of clinical epidemiology departments at eight government medical college hospitals, including Government Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai, and master dental health checks at Tamil Nadu Government Dental College, Chennai.
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