4,308 vacancies to be filled by September-end: Health Minister

‘Infrastructure work is in progress for establishing 708 urban health centres’

August 07, 2022 12:47 am | Updated 12:47 am IST - CHENNAI

The Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) has initiated steps to fill 4,308 vacancies in the Health Department by September-end, Health Minister Ma. Subramanian said on Saturday.

“We have already given the list to recruit 4,308 persons to the MRB. These are 200 types of jobs, such as doctors, nurses, technicians and laboratory assistants. The MRB has taken up the work, such as issuing advertisements in newspapers, conducting interviews and verifying the credentials of certificates. It will finalise the list by the end of September. All vacancies will be filled by September-end,” he told reporters shortly after launching the second year of the ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ scheme.

He said infrastructure work was in progress for establishing 708 urban health centres to enable industrial labourers in cities and municipalities to access outpatient healthcare services. Once the centres were set up, outpatient services would be available from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., he said. These centres, he said, were on the lines of the Mohalla clinics in Delhi.

With ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ completing a year on August 5, the Minister said nearly 74.92% of the people aged above 18 were screened in the last one year. Of those tested, 33,03,774 persons were diagnosed with hypertension, 23,01,777 persons had diabetes and 16,82,144 persons had diabetes and hypertension. A total of 3,37,984 persons benefited from palliative care, 6,97,145 persons received physiotherapy and 900 persons received Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis bags. A total of 83,23,724 persons had benefited from the scheme so far, he said.

In the Greater Chennai Corporation, where the scheme was rolled out late, 31% of the population aged above 18 had been screened so far, he added. “In Chennai, we are issuing a card to each family. This has details of the family members, their age, diseases and treatment. In the second year of the scheme, we have decided to distribute similar cards across the State,” he said.

He said a total of 19,635 staff were involved in implementing the scheme in the State. “Of them, 7,448 persons were recruited six months ago. More than 2,400 persons were being recruited for the scheme through the National Health Mission-Tamil Nadu,” he said. He said the Union Health Minister had asked the State to make a presentation on ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ at the World Economic Forum to be held in Switzerland.

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