CHENNAI: Arignar Anna Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Institute in Kancheepuram district will be upgraded as Centre of Excellence at a cost of Rs 120 crore, said Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in the Assembly on Wednesday.
He also announced that Automatic Drug Vending Machines will be installed at 23 government medical college hospitals and five Urban Primary Health Centre at a cost of Rs 80 lakh for dispensing tuberculosis, diabetes, and blood pressure tablets.
To prevent suicides, counselling centres will be set up at 22 government medical college hospitals through ‘104’ government helpline at a cost of Rs 6.72 crore. Also, Salem Health Unit District will be divided into two due to increase in population and area, he said.
The Chief Minister also said a Rehabilitation Centre will be set up at Government Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at KK Nagar at a cost of Rs 40 crore to provide physiotherapy to accident victims and people with chronic illness.
Multi-Disciplinary Critical Care Unit will be set up in 32 districts at a cost of over Rs 49 crore to provide treatment for head injuries in accidents, the Chief Minister added.Additional Primary Health Centres and Urban Primary Health Centres will be designated as Health and Wellness Centres at a cost of Rs 105 crore. One linear accelerator also will be provided at a cost of Rs 16 crore in Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital, Salem for cancer treatment.
Also, new buildings for 296 Health Sub-Centres will be constructed at a cost of Rs 79.93 crore. Erode Government District Health Quarters Hospital will be upgraded as Super Speciality Hospital at a cost of Rs 67.76 crore for providing treatment for neurology problems, heart diseases, cancer and eye treatment, paediatric surgery and others, Palaniswami said.
Also, as a new initiative, to give a face lift to government hospitals ‘My Hospital My Pride’ programme will be launched under Corporate Social Responsibility and public private partnership, he said.
The Chief Minister on Wednesday made many announcements for three departments – health, transport and dairy development, under Rule 110 of the House.
Transport department
The State has been buying new buses every year. This year too, 2,000 new buses will be bought at a cost of Rs 600 crore. 10 transport depots will be modernised at a cost of Rs 50 crore.
Dairy Development
At present, 10 district cooperative milk producers unions are functioning and some of them cover two or more districts. With a view to ensuring supply of milk and milk products to the public uninterruptedly, the State government has decided to create five more district-level cooperative milk producers unions. This measure will help increase milk procurement from 33 lakh litres to 35 lakh litres while the sales will go up from 22.5 lakh litre to 25 lakh litres per day. The new unions will have their headquarters at Karur, Dharmapuri, Theni, Thoothukudi and Cuddalore.