CHENNAI: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Saturday inaugurated the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine drive for children aged below five years at the Egmore Children’s Hospital. “Parents who have not yet vaccinated their children can use this opportunity to get them inoculated at the earliest. At private hospitals, the three doses would total cost Rs 12,000. But here we are giving it for free,” he said.
Subramanian told reporters that the vaccine drive is being carried out countrywide and these doses will safeguard the kids from pneumonia and brain fever. “In other States, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine drive began long ago, but the previous government in our State took no steps in this regard,” he added.
Min gives his official house keys to Tirunelveli family
After inspecting the Egmore GH and meeting the children there, Ma Subramanian said that he has given the keys of his government-allotted house in the city to a Tirunelveli-based family as their five-year-old child, who consumed bleaching powder in March, is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“The parents too have been staying at the hospital for months. So I gave them my official house key and told them that they can stay there as long as they want. I have instructed the authorities to provide them food for as long as they stay there,” he said. The child’s condition is improving gradually.