Tamil Nadu Govt Announces Recruitment of Over 2,800 Medical Personnel Amid COVID-19, to Ramp Up Bed Capacity in Chennai's Hospitals to 10,000

Chennai, June 11: With the rise of coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami-led state government on Wednesday announced to recruit 2,800 plus medical personnel. Apart from this, the state government also decided to appoint 574 postgraduates -- Non Service Postgraduates -- at a monthly salary of Rs 75,000 in Chennai's government sector hospitals.

Making the announcement, state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said, as reported by The News Minute, the state government will recruit over 1,200 doctors and ramp up bed capacity in Chennai's government sector hospitals to 10,000. This is in addition to the recent appointment of 530 doctors, 4,893 nurses, 1,508 lab technicians and 2,715 health inspectors. India Records Highest Single-Day Spike of 9,996 COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours, Death Toll Jumps to 8,102.

The State government said that 665 more doctors (graduates), 365 lab technicians and 1,230 multipurpose health personnel will be recruited for three months and their appointment will be contractual. Vijayabaskar even claimed that orders have been issued and medical practitioners are in the process of joining duty.

Apart from this, the Tamil Nadu government has also set up a reconciliation committee so that claims of discrepancies in COVID-19 deaths can be seen seriously. In the meantime, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh had said that beds in government sector hospitals in Chennai will be increased from 5,000 to 10,000.

Though the government claimed that there were sufficient beds for COVID-19 patients in government private hospitals, only 4,900 beds in four medical college hospitals and an ESI hospital—all in Chennai were taken into account by the government.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday informed that India's COVID-19 cases rose to 2,86,579, where 1,37,448 are active cases while 1,41,029 people have been cured and discharged from the hospitals. The death toll has mounted to 8,102 while one person has migrated to another country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2020 11:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).