Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Saturday thanked all the doctors and health workers in government and private hospitals across the State, who helped Tamil Nadu receive the award for being the best in organ donation in the country from the Centre for the sixth consecutive year.
“Even during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tamil Nadu, special guidelines were framed and 97 organs were harvested from 27 organ donors,” Mr. Palaniswami said in a statement.
So far, 8,245 organs were received from 1,392 donors in the State. He also said an insurance cover of up to ₹25 lakh was being provided to the poor in government and private hospitals under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. The government also provides immunosuppressants for transplantees free of cost. He recalled the bilateral hand cadaveric successful transplantation for a patient in 2018 in Stanley Medical College which was the first-of-its-kind procedure in the country.
Listing out the efforts taken by the government, the Chief Minister said the State had seen a people’s movement emerging towards organ donation.During the 11th Indian Organ Donation Day on November 27, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey took part in the virtual event. Tamil Nadu Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan took part in the event through video conferencing.
