Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Tuesday said around 20% of health sub-centres in the State are either in a dilapidated condition or in a rented accomodation.
Inaugurating the Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)-CBNAAT (Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test ) machine and the testing lab at the District Headquarters Hospital in Walajah near Ranipet, Mr. Subramanian said that work on the construction of new buildings for these health centres in the State was in progress with funds mainly from the 15th Finance Commission. At present, there were 8,713 health sub-centres in the State. New buildings for 19 such centres in Ranipet district, which were opened today, were built with CSR funds too. “Such public contribution by the corporate sector has helped us procure key equipment like oxygen cylinders during the pandemic,” he said.
To make Tamil Nadu a TB (Tuberculosis)-free State in 2025, the Health Minister said 46 testing machines had been procured, mainly for district headquarters hospitals, at a cost of ₹11.67 crore, he said.
K. Jayasri, Deputy Director, TB unit (Ranipet), said that unlike the existing testing method that took at least 28 days to provide results, the machine gave results in two hours including on drug resistance and drug sensitive cases. Earlier, samples for testing TB were done only at the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore, around 30 km from the government hospital at Walajah. As per a study, Ranipet district recorded a total number of 1,200 TB cases in 2021; 1,206 cases in 2022 and 688 cases upto April 2023. Doctors said that the new testing facility at Walajah would help them reach more people especially in rural and remote areas and provide timely intervention.
On the occasion, Handlooms and Textiles Minister R. Gandhi and Ranipet Collector S. Valarmathi were present.
