Tamil Nadu’s Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena wrote a letter to all the Collectors on Saturday, asking them to conduct periodical inspection of taluk headquarters and sub-district hospitals to ensure that they were performing optimally and providing the best possible care to the public.
He asked the Collectors to submit a compliance report on the hospitals to the Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department promptly after each inspection.
Recalling his earlier letters to the Collectors regarding the conduct of such routine inspections of anganwadis and primary health centres, he said the taluk headquarters hospitals and the sub-district hospitals played a pivotal role in extending health care and medical services to people, serving as a crucial link between primary and secondary care.
He suggested specific focus on a number of aspects during the inspections, including efficiency and responsiveness of casualty services, capacity to handle outpatient services, availability of specialist doctors, bed occupancy, quality of maternal and neonatal care, vaccination programme, availability of drugs, infrastructure, availability of doctors and other healthcare professionals, and functioning of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.
