CHENNAI: The State Government on Monday announced a number of measures to expand and improve the nature and quality of healthcare facilities at government hospitals and medical facilities across the State. The government also said it would hold 2,000 medical camps across the State to screen and recommend treatment for non-communicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension.
The announcements were made in the Assembly by Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar, as part of the ongoing Budget Session. He also parried away the suggestion by Opposition members that classes other than the poor preferred private hospitals for their treatment.
“The first step in treatment is trust, and the government of our honourable Chief Minister has taken a number of steps to give that to everyone. This government has invested in the best for the medical sector, whether it is infrastructure or the specialists who have been employed,” said Vijayabaskar, in response to an insinuation by CPI (M) MLA K Balabharathy that government hospitals evoked fear among the middle and upper class people. “We are now coming to a stage when many are giving up on private hospitals altogether. This is true of the middle and upper classes as well. The Multi Super Speciality Hospital is a case in point,” he added.
Vijayabaskar also announced a number of measures to improve the facilities available at government hospitals across the State. These included the provision of 1,200 non-pneumatic anti-shock garments to prevent deaths during childbirth at a cost of Rs 60 lakh, Rs 3-crore upgrade of operation theatres and allied facilities at the Egmore Women and Children Hospital, setting up of paediatrics ICU at five major government hospitals at a cost of Rs 2.7 crore, provision of 35 ventilators for use at the Government General Hospital in Chennai, purchase of 4,055 hospital beds, mattresses, bedsheets, pillows and pillow cases at a cost of Rs 1.67 crore for hospitals across the State, provision of 125 ICU beds for government hospitals, addition of 50 freezer boxes to mortuary van services, setting up of morgues at 10 government hospitals, purchase of digital X-ray machines for the Government Royapettah Hospital and provision of nano surface shields for 100 operation theatres.