CHENNAI: Health Minister K G Arunraj has asked health secretary Darez Ahamed to direct all district collectors and health officials to ensure hospitals remain functional and medical services continue without disruption during the northeast monsoon.
In a letter to the secretary on Monday, Arunraj said hospitals must coordinate with the state electricity board and the public works department (PWD) to ensure generators are installed in flood-prone locations and have adequate fuel. Government and private hospitals must have uninterrupted oxygen supply and maintain an emergency stock sufficient for at least seven days.
Further, hospitals must ensure ventilators and other life-saving equipment are in working order and available in adequate numbers. Medical services should be arranged in advance for flood-prone areas and relief camps, the minister said.
Hospitals should also have in place plans to evacuate patients and shift them to safer facilities if necessary. All ambulances, including those under the ‘108’ service, must be kept ready with fuel, medicines and trained staff.
Hospitals must stock essential medicines, intravenous fluids, oral rehydration solutions, disinfectants, anti-diarrhoeal medicines, snakebite antivenom, chlorine tablets and other medical supplies for at least seven days. The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation should ensure that drug warehouses in coastal and flood-prone districts receive supplies without delay, he added.
Further, health officials should strengthen disease surveillance during and after the monsoon, particularly for dengue and waterborne infections, the minister said.