Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian said that 45 health camps were being organised in Thoothukudi and five camps Tirunelveli beginning on December 24.
Speaking to media persons, he said that already doctors and para-medical teams from government hospitals and medical colleges were conducting mobile camps for the last five days.
From today, with the participation of private hospitals including Apollo, Meenakshi Mission Hospital, Velammal Hospital, Vadamalayan Hospital and among others from Madurai and Salem, health camps were underway. This would continue for the next four days, he said.
The Health Department has planned to distribute 40 lakh chlorine tablets to all the residents in Thoothukudi. With water being distributed by tanker lorries, it has been decided to provide the tablets with instructions on how to use to the public. The objective was to prevent diseases like cholera and diarrhoea, he said.
Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi said that the 3,331 health camps conducted over the last four-five days had benefited a little over 1.25 lakh people. Patients with fever, cold and cough were given tablets after screening. The mobile health camps would continue to function for another five days covering interior pockets.
The MP thanked Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi and his team for their presence here over the last seven days. This has had an instant impact on the Government Medical College Hospital, which was in bad shape after the floods. From Sunday, Out-Patient services and dialysis facility for the patients have resumed, she said.
Mr. Bedi said that apart from specialist doctors, post-graduate medical students too have arrived in Thoothukudi from Chennai. The dental chairs in the GHs needed to be overhauled. A large number of gadgets and equipment too required repair as water had seeped inside. The RO Plant in the hospital too was being attended to, he said and added that the cath lab functioning may not be restored immediately as the damage had to be ascertained by experts.
