CHENNAI: The ‘Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram Thittam’, under which one-gram gold ring will be given to all babies born in government hospitals, will also be extended to babies abandoned in government facilities under the ‘Thottil Kuzhanthai Thittam’ (cradle baby scheme) launched by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The district child protection officer will receive the ring on behalf of the babies.
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, which conducted a district level coordination committee meeting on Monday, released the guidelines (dated August 28) for the gold ring scheme.
As per the guidelines, even babies who die after admission to special newborn care units (SNCUs) will be eligible for the rings. Intrauterine deaths, still born, and babies born in private hospitals and later admitted to government hospitals are not eligible.
In the case of death of a mother during delivery, the ring shall be handed over to the biological father as a first priority, second shall be the biological maternal grandmother. If the baby has no biological grandmother, father, or biological paternal grandmother, the ring will be handed over to the legal guardian after verification of guardianship documents.
On safe-keeping of the rings, the health department instructed the hub centres to have cupboards based on deliveries in the facility with double key system and CCTV camera focusing on the locker and the surrounding area. A maximum of three cameras should be installed.
The first camera should focus on the locker at the Dean office designated as ‘storage centre’. The second camera should be focused on the door of the storage centre and corridor leading to it. The third camera should be placed at a designated distribution point. All CCTV cameras should be supported with a two-tiered power backup system. Burglar alarms will be installed in all hubs.
The gold ring shall be displayed in front of the CCTV camera for verification at the distribution point. The gold ring shall be distributed to the delivered newborns on the day of discharge from 9 am to 3 pm.
