JOIN USMedical centre inaugurated in five Tamil Nadu temples
Five more temples in Tamil Nadu administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department will now have medical centres to provide first-aid and basic treatment to devotees who develop sudden illness.
Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday inaugurated the medical centres in five temples via video conferencing from Chennai, taking the number of temples to have the facility to 15. Ten temples got medical centres in 2021-22 and ten more are to get this financial year of which five were inaugurated on Friday.
The HR & CE department sets up medical centres in temples that attract huge crowds, and each facility will have two doctors, two nurses, and two multi-disciplinary staff each to provide first aid and basic treatment to devotees who develop sudden illness.
The medical centres will have first aid kits, oxygen cylinders, beds, and blood pressure apparatus, among others. The temples where medical centres were inaugurated on Friday are located in Madurai, Iukkankudi, Bannari and Sankarankovil.
Officials said Rs 30 lakh will be spent on each centre every year from temple funds. Under the DMK government, HR & CE department has been improving facilities for pilgrims at several temples in the state while putting to use the temple funds to launch educational institutions.
As many as 44,121 temples in Tamil Nadu come under the HR & CE department which manages and controls them. The department has also revived six Archakar Payirchi Palli (Priests’ Training Schools) to train people from all communities as priests.
The four schools that will train students in Shaivite tradition are located in Tiruvannamalai, Madurai, Palani, and Tiruchendur, while the Parthasarathy Temple in Chennai, and Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam will train students in Vaishnavite tradition. The students who successfully complete the course will be appointed as priests provided they clear the interview.
The Palani Lord Murugan Temple recently launched a free breakfast scheme for students at four colleges and two schools run by it, which is seen as an extension of the Free Breakfast Scheme for government school students from class one to five launched by the Tamil Nadu Government in September.