Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Friday launched the National Deworming Day programme, which would cover over 2.65 crore children and women, excluding pregnant and lactating women, in Tamil Nadu.
A total of 2,10,77,683 children aged 1 to 19 and 54,67,069 women aged 20 to 30 would be covered under the programme. In total, 2,65,44,752 persons would receive Albendazole tablets. The tablets were distributed at 59,661 schools, over 2000 colleges, 54,439 anganwadi centres, 11,077 health sub-centres and 2,127 primary health centres, the Minister said in Chennai.
“Those who were unable to receive the tablets on Friday can get them on September 16 when a special camp will be held,” he said. The programme was carried out through 54,439 anganwadi workers, 11,077 village health nurses and 2,650 Accredited Social Health Activists, he added.
NEET results
Compared with last year, there is a 3% drop in Tamil Nadu’s overall qualifying percentage in the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) this year. From 54.41% last year, the percentage of candidates who have qualified has dropped to 51.29% this year, the Minister told reporters.
Mr. Subramanian said the number of students who appeared for NEET in Tamil Nadu was more this year. “Prior to this, the maximum number of students who had appeared was 1.10 lakh. This year, 1,32,167 students had appeared for NEET in the State.”
Responding to a question on NEET-related criticism from AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the Minister said his criticism was absurd, given that NEET was introduced in the State in 2017 when he was the Chief Minister.
“Getting exemption from NEET is a key policy decision of the Tamil Nadu government,” he said, pointing to the continued efforts in the form of representations to the Union Health Minister.
He said the COVID-19 mega vaccination camp would be held on September 11.
