Makkalai Thedi scheme helps over 40 lakh people in State
CHENNAI: After the expansion of Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam to urban areas and Primary Health Centres, government hospitals and medical colleges, a total of 40,80,770 beneficiaries have benefitted from the scheme as of Friday. The scheme includes 35,43,738 first-time service recipients.
A total of 27.89 lakh beneficiaries from the institutions under the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 8.7 lakh beneficiaries from the Directorate of Medical Services and 4.21 lakh beneficiaries of the Directorate of Medical Education have been benefited through the scheme in the State.
Health Minister Ma Subramanian had earlier said that the scheme has reached a majority of people who were not aware of being infected with non-communicable diseases and the door-to-door vaccination against COVID-19 through the scheme will help to reach more people. The highest of 16.88 lakh people suffering from hypertension are being monitored and medications are given, followed by 11.52 lakh beneficiaries who were suffering from diabetes. About 8.43 lakh people had both hypertension and diabetes. There are about 1.39 lakh people who were provided with palliative care services, 2.55 lakh with physiotherapy services and peritoneal dialysis was provided to 802 people under the scheme so far.
The healthcare workers are also distributing Indian medicines such as immunity boosters to protect against infectious diseases and seasonal ailments. The project was initially launched in 1,172 government health centres in 50 locations, 189 Primary Health Centres and 50 Advanced Primary Health Centres in a total of 21 urban sub-primary health centres in three selected corporations of Chennai, Coimbatore, and Tirunelveli. In the second phase, the programme was expanded to the Government Primary Health Centres in 335 places, Additional Government Primary Health Centres, and Urban Primary Health Centres in the Corporations, all Government Hospitals and Government Medical Hospitals across Tamil Nadu.