The percentage of patients recovered from COVID-19 in the State was highest in the country, said Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar.
After inspecting hospitals in Sivaganga district on Sunday, he told the media here that 87% of positive patients had recovered in the State, a majority of them from government hospitals. In the last two months alone, 15,000 doctors, para-medical personnel and other frontline workers had been posted to fight the pandemic.
Those who relied on private hospitals for treatment of any ailment till five months ago, had realised the efficiency of government hospitals now. Doctors and other hospital staff had risked their lives to save patients admitted to COVID-19 wing of government hospitals across Tamil Nadu.
To a query, he said only in rare cases will a recovered patient affected again. People must follow the guidelines of doctors even after discharge from hospitals, he said.
Along with allopathy, siddha and ayurvedic systems ere also available for COVID-19 treatment. In Chennai alone, 20 hospitals treated patients with Siddha medicines. The CM had instructed that such facilities were to be opened in every district.
Plasma treatment had begun in Chennai followed by Madurai and Tirunelveli. The government had earmarked ₹2.35 crore for procuring equipment. More districts would have the facility soon.
Sivaganga’s feat
The Minister said as many as 234 pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19 in government hospitals in Sivaganga received good treatment and went home with healthy babies in the last four months. The newborns had tested negative and were safe.
Appreciating the team of doctors led by Government Sivaganga Medical College Dean A. Rathinavel, he said their efforts had resulted in the district reporting lowest number of active cases in southern districts. As many as 42,000 people were screened and 2,823 who tested positive for COVID-19 had been cured.
There were 2,115 beds available in Sivaganga district and there need not be any apprehension that hospitals were not admitting patients saying the beds were full. The Covid care centre functioning in a private engineering college had adequate infrastructure, he said. Patients at the isolation ward at Amaravathipudur expressed satisfaction over food served to them.
People could siddha treatment at Sweden Mission Hospital in Tirupattur. The old building of the the Sivaganga GH had been refurbished to accommodate 300 beds of the COVID-19 wing, the Minister said.
Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan, Collector J. Jayakanthan, Joint Director of Health Ilango Maheswaran, the Dean, and Medical Superintendents Meena and Mohamed Khan were present.
