The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a 14-member task force to be headed by retired IAS officer R. Poornalingam that will assist the expert committee headed by the Chief Minister for COVID-19 management activities.
“The committee will have an advisory role and it will conduct meetings periodically and monitor the action taken on suggestions,” a government order issued on Thursday stated. Non-official members in the task force are P. Kuganantham; Kolandaswamy; Manoj Murhekar, director of the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, and Jayaprakash Muliyil, epidemiologist at the Christian Medical College, Vellore.
Health Secretary, Officer on Special Duty to the Health and Family Welfare Department, Director of Medical and Rural Health Services, Director of Medical Education, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Mission Director of the National Health Mission, managing director of the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Limited and Chairman of the Medical Services Recruitment Board will be the other members. Joint Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department will be the member secretary of the panel. “During the course of deliberation, the committee can co-opt additional members as per need,” the G.O. added.
