Tamil Nadu Health Ministry to inspect govt hospitals for 2 days from Apr 10

The Tamil Nadu Health Ministry will carry out inspection in all government hospitals across the State for two days from April 10 to increase the facilities to meet the challenges of surge in COVID cases and other infections, Health Minister M Subramanian said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters after reviewing the Government Hospital in nearby Mettupalayam, the Minister said that there was an increase in the COVID infections and variants of Omicron and considering them, the government has made wearing masks mandatory for all those visiting hospitals including doctors, patients and visitors.

The government wanted to ensure required facilities like beds and oxygen are available and decided to review all the 11,300 health facilities across the State, he said.

Though States like Kerala, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh reported 300 to 500 infections, Tamil Nadu recorded 139 cases of Omicron variant XBB and BA 2 on Friday, the Minister said.

The Health department is also carrying out random checks in International Airports and about 120 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu on a single day on Friday, Subramaniam said.

On administering booster dose at this juncture, Subramaniam said that the Centre stopped supplying the medicines since there was nil incident of infection. Tamil Nadu had covered 95 per cent of the population under the vaccine, including the second wave of COVID-19, the Minister said.