Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin Launches 500 Urban Health Centres

Chennai: As many as 500 Urban Health and Wellness Centres (UHWCs), spread across the State were virtually inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin here on Tuesday (June 6). In his launch address, CM Stalin said the Dravidian model of governance regarded education and healthcare as its ‘two eyes,’ and the government accordingly implemented schemes.

Tamil Nadu excelled in sectors such as education, in development of the state and in fulfilling the aspirations of the people. However, this could not be seen or understood by a person who held the top position in the State, CM Stalin said in an implicit reference to Governor RN Ravi.

Also Read: Five Urban Health, Wellness Centres Launched In Ranchi

Without naming Ravi again, CM Stalin said ‘he’ (Governor) did not accept the Dravidian model of governance and hence made criticisms against the government to confuse people.

People will not bother about it at all. People have understood everything clearly. Let him make such criticism continuously, the Chief Minister said, adding such remarks would only further invigorate them.

The CM listed healthcare schemes initiated during the previous DMK regimes, when late M Karunanidhi (1924-2018) was the Chief Minister. Also, CM Stalin listed a slew of healthcare schemes launched under his leadership since 2021.

On June 5, Governor had reportedly remarked that investors would ‘not come’ merely because they were asked to do so. It was seen as a veiled attack on CM Stalin who recently undertook a trip to Singapore and Japan to woo investors.

Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu earlier in the day said Ravi belittled the foreign visit of CM Stalin who was striving to improve the economy of the state by attracting foreign investments.

As regards the UHWCs, these are intended to function as ancillary units of Urban Primary Health Centres. The UHWCs are located in areas under civic bodies such as corporations including the Greater Chennai Corporation and municipalities.

Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Vellore were among the reigons where the services could be availed, an official release here said.

Each UHWC was set up at a cost of Rs 25 lakh and in total, Rs 125 Crore is the cost of the initiative to set up the 500 new facilities.

A doctor, nurse, health inspector and a sanitary worker would be on duty in every UHWC, which would work between 8 AM to noon and from 4 PM to 8 PM to cater to about 25,000 people in a given area.

Totally, 500 doctors, as many nurses, health inspectors and sanitary workers have been appointed. The UHWCs would offer a wide range of healthcare services including maternity care and yoga.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and top officials participated.

Also Read: Rajasthan Government To Open 70 New Sub-Health Centres Across State

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.