Chennai: Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa inaugurated new anti-snake venom vaccine production centre at Guindy King Institute and she also declared open medical equipment and primary health centres established at a cost of Rs 70 crore.
A press release from the secretariat said that Ms Jayalalithaa inaugurated a string of health projects including the Rs 16.72 crore centre to produce anti-venom at renowned King Institute at Guindy.
The institute stopped producing the anti-snake venom drugs since 2000 and now the state has renovated the facilities and established new laboratories to produce the drug in demand.
A quality control division and a blood test centre is part of the new anti venom unit. The release also said that a Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT-CT) facility installed at the Government Multi Super Speciality hospital at Omandurar Estate was put to public use.
The SPECT installed at a cost of Rs 4.80 crore lets the doctor analyse the function of internal organs and is an advanced scanner with special camera to create 3-D pictures of human organs.
She also declared open Rs 70.69 crore worth buildings constructed for the health sector including 14 primary health centres. The release further said that the AIADMK government in the past five years has purchased equipments worth '968 crore to upgrade the facilities at government hospitals in TN.
Jayalalithaa also inaugurated various other facilities, including quarters at Chengalpet Medical College at a cost of Rs 6.89 crore and burn injuries treatment wards at various district hospitals at an estimate of Rs 21.57 crore.
Health minister Dr C. Vijaya Baskar, chief secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao and health secretary J. Radhakrishnan were also present during the inaugural.
