Coimbatore Corporation has renewed its efforts to help conservancy workers kick their addiction to liquor by restarting the de-addiction centre.
A resolution the Corporation Council passed recently said that keeping in mind the welfare of the workers and their families the Corporation proposed to restart the centre, which was closed about a year ago.
Mayor S.M. Velusamy inaugurated the de-addiction centre recently.
The resolution said that the Corporation proposed to reopen the centre based on Commissioner G. Latha’s initiative. The Corporation would use the maternity sub-centre on Lawley Road, which had been refurbished for the purpose.
The Corporation would depute two of its medical officers, a conservancy worker, a sanitary supervisor, three pharmacists and four nurses to meet the centre’s needs. It would give Rs. 15,000 in advance to meet the food expenditure and also spend on medicines.
The Corporation would buy the medicines from the open market as it had learnt that the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation did not have the medicines required. It had been estimated that the civic body would have to spend Rs. 1,000 on an addicted conservancy worker.
The resolution also said that the Corporation would spend close to Rs. 7,000 on an addicted worker and that expenditure included the money spent on doctor, medicines, food, counsellor, etc. Earlier the Corporation had spent Rs. 4,825 on an addicted worker.
The Corporation had first started the centre when Anshul Mishra was the Commissioner.
He had also provided orientation programme for the Councillors at a training institute in Anaikatti.
Likewise, the Corporation had also proposed to upgrade its maternity centre on Krishnasamy Road – Seethalakshmi Maternity Centre – in such a way that Caesarean deliveries could be performed there. The reason the Corporation had cited was that majority of the women preferred private clinics and then the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for delivery because the Corporation maternity centres did not have the facility to perform Caesarean operation.
With a view to improve the services, the Corporation would equip the Seethalakshmi Maternity Centre, the resolution said and allotted money for the purpose.
It also said that the Corporation could hire doctors with M.D. (OG) qualification at Rs. 2,000 a delivery and also utilise the services of in-house doctors by paying Rs. 1,000 as additional fee.
