CHENNAI: As many as 1,008 medical professionals, who have been recruited through the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Recruitment Board (TMSRB), will join duty in government hospitals in a few days. They received appointment orders from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, in Chennai on Thursday.
Those who received appointment orders included 242 assistant surgeons, 337 nurses, 308 pharmacists, 90 radiographers, 21 block health statisticians and 10 junior assistants. The TMSRB is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, introduced by the late Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, in 2012. So far, the board has recruited 10,858 doctors, 9,533 nurses, 1,323 village health nurses and 2,166 other medical professionals.
The CM said the State government had been implementing many measures to attain the goals set in Vision-2023 document. Giving a long list of schemes implemented by the Health Department, he said Tamil Nadu was performing well in the medical field. “Government hospitals are offering treatment on a par with private hospitals. For the past three years, Tamil Nadu stands first in organ transplantation and this became possible only because of the involvement of government doctors,” the CM said.
In this connection, Palaniswami recalled how Narayanasamy (20), a worker from Athur in Dindigul district who had lost his hands in an accident, got both hands through organ transplantation. Two hands of a deceased person were implanted on Narayanasamy two months ago and now he is able to use them with ease. For the first time in the country, this kind of surgery was successfully performed in a GH in TN, Palaniswami said.
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the allocation for the Health Department, which stood at just Rs 3,888 crore in 2010-11, had now risen to Rs 11,638,44 crore for 2018-19. The number of MBBS seats in Tamil Nadu had gone up from 1,940 to 2,900 and the number of PG medical students had gone up to 575.
Giving a detailed account of medical facilities being provided in government hospitals, Panneerselvam said that for organ transplantation, an assistance of up to Rs 35 lakh, the highest amount from any State government, was being given to the needy. Besides, during the post-transplantation period, immunosuppressive drugs are given free of cost, he added. Health Minister C Vijaya Basker, Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and senior officials took part in the function.