Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Monday praised the role of the employees of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and promoting vaccination among people at a time when hesitancy and fear was high.
The Minister was speaking at a conference to mark 100 years of Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine.
Recalling the COVID-19 situation when the DMK came to power, the Minister said that it was in May 2021 that the State recorded the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 — nearly 10,136 persons died in a single month. The Minister went on to recount the loss of his son and also party colleague J. Anbazhagan to COVID-19.
He said that despite such circumstances during the pandemic, the Directorate’s employees did not panic and fought undeterred. “At that time, there was vaccine hesitancy and people feared getting vaccinated. However, it was the nurses who took the vaccines to every village and every street,” he said. As a result of such efforts, he said, today the State’s first dose coverage of COVID-19 vaccine had crossed 96% while the second dose coverage had reached 92%. He outlined the various efforts for the control of filariasis, leprosy and tuberculosis.
Noting that the Health department had been criticised with regard to the recent case of medical negligence, he said that he had been receiving one or two petitions every day seeking his intervention and action for deaths that had occurred in government hospitals several months and years ago. The Minister said six lakh people were treated as outpatients while there were 60,000 to 70,000 in-patients and 9,500 to 10,000 surgeries performed in government hospitals across the State.
Noting that his recent statement on reducing caesarean section had drawn criticisms, he said that caesarean sections could be performed in unavoidable situations but not for making money. “We should not back down due to such criticisms. Our aim is to improve normal deliveries as it concerns the well-being of the women in the State,” he said.
The directorate has organised a three-day conference, “DPHICON 2022”, a global public health conference to commemorate 100 years of service. The conference comprises 33 sessions with 103 speakers including national and international experts.
Health Secretary P. Senthilkumar, Chengalpattu Collector A.R. Rahul Nadh and Director of Public Health T. S. Selvavinayagam were present.
