The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Free eggs at schools to create a healthy society”

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Tamil Nadu

“Free eggs at schools to create a healthy society”

Staff Reporter

Eggs give children the needed resistance: Minister

Healthy offering:Minister for Health M.R.K. Pannerselvam distributing welfare assitance to beneficiaries in Virudhunagar on Thursday. He is flanked by the Minister for School Education, Thangam Thennarasu, and Minister for Backward Classes K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran.

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Impact of diseases on the people of Tamil Nadu will come down significantly in another ten years, thanks to the free distribution of three eggs a week in schools, Minister for Health and Family Welfare M.R.K. Pannerselvam, has said.

Speaking at a function organised here to mark the inauguration of new buildings and facilities worth Rs. 14.56 crore in five Government hospitals in the district, he said the eggs, that were rich in protein, would give children the much-needed resistance against diseases. “It helps in the healthy physical growth of children. The healthy body in turn helps them to concentrate better in their studies,” he said.

Stating that those children who would eat 12 eggs a month for 10 years would get enough resistance, he said the impact of diseases would be less among the next generation. “Even mothers in rural areas do not give eggs (laid by the hen reared at homes) to their children. They would be keen on making money by selling them. But, the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, is providing these children three eggs a week,” he said.

The Chief Minister had also provided the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatments to take care of the present generation.

A total of 1.31 crore families had been registered under the scheme and so far Rs. 502 crore had been spent on various treatments for 1.88 lakh people, he said.

The Minister for Backward Classes, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, said the facilities at the Government hospitals were on par with that of private hospitals.

The present Government had upgraded the facilities so that the poor were not denied of proper medical facilities.

Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu said that gone are the days when accident victims suffered due to lack of proper transportation facility to get medical attention. “But, these days ambulances (of 108 services) rush to the nook and corners to serve the poor,” he added.

Among new facilities provided and planned at the hospitals were additional beds, intensive care units for new born babies, scan, X-ray and blood bank and trauma care centres, modern operation theatres, 24-hour maternity special care, central oxygen supply, solar water heater and lifts.

The District Collector, V. K. Shanmugam, Director of Medical Services and Rural Health Services R. Purushotham Vijayakumar, Joint Director (Medical Services) N. Rathnaraj, and Deputy Directors (Health) P. Vadivelan and S. Balasubramanian and District Revenue Officer B. Ganesan were present.

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