Tamil Nadu Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian inaugurated a Siddha Covid Care Centre equipped with 240 beds at Ambedkar Arts and Science College in Tondiarpet, Chennai on Sunday.

Subramanian said the state government would set up 12 Siddha Covid-19 Care Centres (SCCCs) in the state to treat patients with mild symptoms. He said that currently 195 patients were under treatment at the facility and the decision to reinstitute Siddha centres has been taken by the state government to reduce the crowd at other hospitals.

He pointed out that 2,290 patients infected with Covid-19 recovered successfully last year from these Siddha centres and added that not all patients require oxygen support and treatment and those with mild symptoms can be treated in CCCs and the government has deployed 1,410 healthcare workers to treat those infected with the pandemic virus.

Traditional herbal medicines like Kabasura Kudineer, Brahmananda Bhairavam Mathirai, Karpooradi Thalilam, etc and food products like Karisalai Milk, Sukku, Kanji to be served to those infected with the disease. Also, the traditional practitioners have been instructed to provide practices like Siddha Yoga, TIrumoolar Pranayama, Herbal steam treatment and mental health counselling to patients.

The 12 CCCs would be established in Dharmapuri, Theni, Namakkal, Karur, Tiruvannamalai, Ariyalur, Tenkasi, Madurai, Dindigul, Ranipet, Pudukottai and Nagapattinam this month end. Further, the government is planning more natural health care centres like Siddha, Unani, Ayurveda centres across the state.

“A 70-bedded Siddha care centre will be inaugurated at AM Jain College in South Chennai later this week,” the minister noted. The health department has proposed to expand the Covid- 19 testing facilities operating in the city to 30.