CHENNAI: After inaugurating a workshop for quality improvement in obstetrics and gynaecology in the city on Friday, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said that district headquarters hospitals were being constructed at 25 places in 19 districts at a cost of Rs 1,018 crore.
“These will be inaugurated within the next three months,” he added. “Appointment of staff for Primary Health Centres and Urban Primary Health Centres in 50 places has begun, and vacancies will be filled within a few days. After this, 208 urban health centres and 50 new PHCs will be set up.”
To fill the total vacancies in Tamil Nadu 3 months back, 2,642 doctor posts were filled and work orders were given. Out of these, steps were taken to transfer senior and specialist doctors to special departments in the government district headquarters hospitals and regional hospitals. On Thursday, 46 obstetricians, 48 anaesthesiologists and 62 paediatric doctors were transferred, added a press note.
The minister also compared the maternal mortality rate between 2021-22 and 2022-23. “It was 90.5 per lakh births in 2021-22, and in the following year, due to the steps taken by the government it decreased to 52 lakh. It decreased further to 45.5 lakh in 2023-24, and in this financial year, it has gone as low as 39.6 lakh,” he stated.
Similarly, the infant mortality rate, which was 10.4 per 1,000 births in 2021-22, has decreased to 10.2 in 2022-23, dipped to 8.2 in 2023-24 and decreased to 7.4 in 2024-25.
The event discussed new methods and modules in the field of anaesthesia, which would enable participants to play a major role in preventing maternal mortality.