CHENNAI: Health minister Ma Subramanian addressed a workshop on public procurement agencies in the World Health Organisation South - East Asia Region on improving access to medicines on Tuesday. The workshop organised by the World Health Organisation emphasized on improving access to medicines and WHO-SEARO has chosen Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation as a base for the three day workshop.
The health minister said that the crucial task of ensuring timely and quality supply of drugs, equipments and other medical supplies have been entrusted with the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) since 1994 and all procurements are done in an open transparent manner under the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act, 1998.
He explained the newly launched drug distribution system, supported by a robust software called the Drug Distribution Management System. He said that end-to-end computerization of drug distribution from procurement, quality assurance, drug distribution to vendor management, and by which drugs are distributed to about 2000 government health facilities across the State through 32 drug warehouses.
He added that TNMSC also offers therapeutic and diagnostic services through its robust network of 16 Radiotherapy centres with 9 Linear accelerators, 11 Tele-cobalt therapy units and 8 Brachy therapy units. TNMSC manages 39 MRI centres and 119 CT scan centres in the State of Tamil Nadu. He said that international Agencies like the World Bank and the JICA have also recognized TNMSC as the procurement entity for their projects in Tamil Nadu.
The minister also mentioned the achievements towards the state health department with the help of Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme, Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam and Innuyir Kappom - Nammai Kaakum 48.
He added that the initiatives taken up by the State of Tamil Nadu over the last 5 decades have greatly reduced MMR and IMR indicators, and the State of Tamil Nadu has already achieved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 in respect of MMR and IMR.