TN has good healthcare system, can implement Kerala model against COVID-19: Health Minister Shailaja

The Kerala model in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic can be implemented in Tamil Nadu as it also has good public health care system, Health Minister K K Shailaja said on Sunday. Participating in an online discussion with actor-turned- politician Kamal Haasan of Makkal Needhi Maiam, she highlighted various measures taken by Kerala, whose treatment and monitoring protocols have come in for praise from various quarters, to check the spread of the coronavirus.

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"Despite the financial constraints, we are able to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic with the people-centred policies. We also have good public health centre and dedicated health workers," the Minister said in the Facebook live discussion titled Maiam Talks. Tamil Nadu, which is among the states witnessing high number of in COVID-19 cases, too has a good public healthcare system and can implement measures such as strict quarantine and treating symptomatic persons taken by Kerala, she said.

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Kerala, where the country's first three COVID-19 cases were reported since January 30, has seen fewer deaths (nine) and the total infection count stood at 1,208 with 624 active cases as of Saturday. Shailaja detailed measures taken by the state ever since it came to know about the virus outbreak in Wuhan and said a rapid response team and control room were formed on January 24 itself, six days before the first COVID-19 case in the country was reported from Thrissur. The symptomatic persons were shifted to hospitals from the airports itself and the rest of them were under strict home quarantine, she said adding Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the state administration and the health workers were very supportive in taking all the precautionary measures.

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She also said people's participation was a major factor in fighting the pandemic. In response, Haasan praised the 'winning' Kerala model and said "This is what we want our government in Tamil Nadu to do." He and his followers will go to the public as "volunteers without any party colour" and help the Tamil Nadu government in fighting the pandemic, he added. "We are trying to organise a citizen partnership with the state government without giving any political shades to it. We do not want to play politics when the lives are at stake. Here livelihood also matters," he added. Haasan also discussed the post-COVID scenario with Director of US-based Centre for disease Dynamics, Economics and Police (CDDEP) Ramanan Lakshmi Narayanan and Dr Shalini, a writer and psychiatrist, as part of the Maiam talks.