No partiality against Kovai in fight against COVID: Stalin
COIMBATORE: As western Tamil Nadu districts continued to report more cases than Chennai, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday and reviewed COVID-19 treatment facilities in hotspots Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts. He refuted allegations that the government ignored Coimbatore as it did not vote for DMK in the just concluded Assembly polls.
Opposition parties have been claiming that the government has been discriminating against Coimbatore in vaccination and COVID prevention works as the DMK could not win even a single seat in the district.
“I do not wish to give them a political reply. But, I wanted them to come and see the health care infrastructure developed by the state government, so they don’t raise such complaints. In fact, maximum number of people have been vaccinated in Coimbatore, just after Chennai. Our goal is to protect the entire State,” he said to the media, after the review meeting in Coimbatore.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the DMK government did not have a bias in its COVID works. His response comes in the wake of hashtag #GoBackStalin trending to protest his visit to the region.
Stating that even the lockdown regulations were a collective decision through an all-party meet, he said that when DMK was in the opposition, a request was made to the then ruling party to constitute an all-party meet to discuss the pandemic, but they (AIADMK) asked if we were doctors. “Now, we have taken up a collective decision only to rule out any politics during the pandemic,” he added.
On the COVID scenario in Tamil Nadu, Stalin said Karnataka reached its peak of 50,000 and Kerala 43,000 before starting to plateau, but Tamil Nadu has managed to contain cases with a peak of 36,000 cases. “Due to the lockdown, the case count has begun to reduce considerably in Chennai and in other districts too. Even Coimbatore, which exceeded Chennai in number of infections, has begun to show case decline due to the efforts taken by the government. There has been no oxygen shortage in TN,” he said.
As western districts continued to exceed Chennai in COVID-19 cases count, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday inspected and reviewed the virus treatment facilities in the hotspot Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts.
In Coimbatore, Stalin took everyone by surprise, as he wore personal protective equipment (PPE) and went inside the COVID-19 treatment ward at Government ESI Medical College and Hospital. He also inquired about the patients undergoing treatment for infection in the hospital.
Later, the Chief Minister said that he wore the PPE kit and inspected the ward to instill confidence and encourage doctors and frontline workers, who have been battling against the pandemic by risking their lives.
The Chief Minister earlier flagged off 50 car ambulances in Coimbatore and 20 car ambulances in Tirupur to help patients commute from homes to hospitals. This service has turned out to be a hit after it was first launched in Chennai to provide quick transportation for patients to hospitals.
Also, the Chief Minister inaugurated a 100 bed COVID-19 treatment facility with medical oxygen supply at Tirupur Medical College and Hospital premises. He also gave appointment orders to doctors and nurses to work on a contract basis at COVID care centres in Tirupur and Erode districts.
In Erode, Chief Minister Stalin inspected the 400-bed facility with oxygen supply at Government Erode Medical College Hospital in Perundurai. The Chief Minister was accompanied by Minister for Health and Family Welfare M Subramanian, Minister for Housing and Urban Development S Muthusamy, Minister for Information and Publicity MP Swaminathan, Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj.