Madurai: Over 3 lakh benefited from free medical camps in seven years

Madurai: More than three lakh people in Madurai district have benefited from the free chief minister’s special medical camps held between 2012 and 2019. Thirty-nine health camps are conducted for each block in the district at the rate of three per year. So far, 241 camps have been conducted and 3,15,666 people, including 805 males and 2,708 females, who were referred to bigger hospitals for surgeries and other treatments, have benefited from these camps.

Tamil Nadu has figured among the first three leading states in the Niti Ayog report in health and development. The state is also leading in organ donation. The government is focussing on overcoming the challenges and increasing the health index. It aims to be on a par with developed nations by 2023. Tamil Nadu is also the leader in the implementation of many outstanding schemes like the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy maternity benefit scheme, Amma Maternity Sanjeevani scheme among others.

Chief minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami had ordered that three free medical camps should be held every year in places where people below poverty line live. These camps help people to have access to medication for mother-child welfare, non-contagious diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart diseases and old-age related diseases. Patients who require inpatient treatment are referred to government hospitals and the expenditure is covered under chief minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme.