COIMBATORE: “The Tamil Nadu government has not lifted the rule making face masks mandatory in the State, and everyone must wear a mask in public, including in theatres and malls,” said Health Minister Ma Subramanian in Coimbatore on Saturday.
Subramanian, along with Collector Dr GS Sameeran, CCMC Commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara, Mayor Kalpana, CMCH Dean Dr A Nirmala and other officials, laid foundation stones for buildings in Valparai Government Hospital (GH) at a cost of Rs 9 crore, Udumalaipettai GH at a cost of Rs 9 crore, and Gopichettipalayam GH at a cost of Rs 6.89 crore. Followed by that, he took part in the World Haemophilia Day event on the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital campus.
“Additional buildings are to be built in 32 GH and PHCs across the State at a cost of Rs 87.97 crore. The projects will be completed and opened to the public soon. The Tamil Nadu quota for Medical college seats has been filled completely. As far as the All India Quota of the Union government is concerned, 812 seats are lying vacant, which includes 24 seats in Tamil Nadu, that need to be filled by the Centre. But they failed to do so as the time lapsed for filling those seats. The Tamil Nadu government has written a letter to the Union government to fill them immediately, the minister said.”
Asserting that the pandemic hasn’t ended, Subramanian added, “The number of cases has been rising up to 1 lakh every day in Singapore, Malaysia, the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea. We’ve had several variants, including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron, and now XE. In order to stay safe, one has to keep wearing a face mask, maintain social distancing, and take the vaccine. No exemption was given from wearing a mask. Only the fine imposed on violators was withdrawn. People must wear masks to safeguard their own lives.”
Speaking about Haemophilia, he added, “In India, 1.36 lakh individuals have been affected by Haemophilia. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, 1,800 suffer from the disease. Former CM Kalaingar Karunanidhi launched a scheme in 2010 to provide free vaccination for people with Haemophilia in the State. In Kovai, 360 have Haemophilia, and we had an interactive session with them today.”