Tamil Nadu Health Minister K.G. Arunraj has directed officials across the State to strengthen hospital preparedness and ensure uninterrupted medical services as the Northeast monsoon sets in, with special attention to flood-prone urban, coastal and riverbank areas.
In an official communication, the Minister identified three immediate objectives for district administrations and health authorities: preventing the spread of monsoon-related diseases, preventing deaths and maintaining uninterrupted healthcare services. The instructions cover government hospitals, primary health centres, urban primary health centres, health sub-centres and vaccine cold chain centres.
Priority has been given to vulnerable areas in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari. Officials have been asked to prepare evacuation plans for healthcare facilities in low-lying, riverbank and coastal locations and to identify safer hospitals where patients can be shifted if facilities are threatened by flooding.
The directive requires blood banks, vaccination facilities, drug warehouses and critical electrical infrastructure to be located at elevated sites protected from floodwater. Medical camps are to be organised in flood- and cyclone-affected areas in coordination with district administrations and local bodies. Medical teams, mobile medical units and ambulances must be positioned in advance at flood relief centres.
The Health Department has also been asked to coordinate with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and the Public Works Department to ensure that transformers serving hospitals are protected from flooding and supported by adequate fuel supplies. Government and private hospitals have been instructed to maintain uninterrupted oxygen supplies and emergency stocks sufficient for at least seven days.
Hospitals must keep ventilators, ambu bags, ambulances, medicines and trained personnel ready for deployment. Essential stocks listed in the communication include intravenous fluids, disinfectants, oral rehydration solution, anti-snake venom, chlorine tablets and other medical consumables. The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation has been directed to ensure timely delivery of essential medicines to drug warehouses in coastal and flood-prone districts.
The instructions extend beyond clinical supplies. Electricians, plumbers, lift operators and sanitation workers are to be engaged round-the-clock, while lifts and firefighting equipment must be maintained for emergency use. Hospital drains, sewage pipelines, manual openings and toilets are to be cleaned to prevent waterlogging on campuses, and pumps must be kept ready to remove water from low-lying areas.
The Minister has further directed health authorities to strengthen post-rain disease surveillance for dengue, leptospirosis, chikungunya, acute diarrhoeal diseases and other water-borne illnesses. Pregnant women nearing delivery have been advised to avoid staying in flood-prone areas and to seek medical advice. The instructions come as a fresh weather system is expected to sustain heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu until October 26, with orange alerts issued for some southern districts for October 21 and 22.
