Health Minister Ma Subramanian: Made history worth Rs 1 crore digitalized for Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam

CHENNAI: Health minister Ma Subramaniam, while inaugurating the three-day Kalaignar Centenary International Medical Conference on Friday, said medical histories of more than 1 crore beneficiaries of the ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ scheme have been digitized so far.

The minister said that the medical records of ‘Thozhilalargalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ will also be digitalized and 8.35 lakh beneficiaries will be covered under the scheme in the first phase. “Digitalization will be helpful as it also gives details of the number of diabetes and hypertension cases and people on palliative care and dialysis,” Subramanian said.

Nearly 11,000 delegates, including doctors, nurses, paramedical and allied health science students, registered for the conference. Subramaniam said around 28 international speakers from the US, UK, Singapore, Germany, Singapore, Qatar, Australia and Canada and 150 speakers from across India will participate in panel discussions and presentations.

The conference titled ‘Future of Medicine’ was organized by the state government and Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University.

Subramaniam also read a message from Chief Minister MK Stalin. “The conference will play an important role in promoting medical tourism in Tamil Nadu. Our state has been a leader in providing world-class medical services and is known as a global destination for health care. It has contributed significantly to the economic growth of our state and I am sure this conference will help in further strengthening our position,” the CM said.

The inaugural session was attended by Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization, Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Health Department officials and international speakers.