Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: People reluctant to seek medical attention, says Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian

KALLAKURICHI: The death toll in the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy rose to 50 on Friday with 135 people still undergoing treatment — 85 at Kallakurichi GH, 31 at Salem GH, 17 at Jipmer, Puducherry, and two at Villupuram GH.
Health minister Ma Subramanian told reporters that the condition of four of the patients at Jipmer was critical and five others were not yet out of danger.Eight of the patients at Salem GH too were in a critical condition.
Subramanian said the govt started deputing medical teams to Karunapuram from Wednesday to screen and identify people, who consumed spurious liquor but were reluctant to seek medical attention. The teams identified 55 such people and referred them to Kallakurichi GMCH for treatment. “Most of the people approached for medical attention belatedly. That is one of the reasons for the high number of fatalities. Kallakurichi GH has 600 beds, and the hospital has kept 50 beds exclusively to admit and treat people complaining of health complications after consuming spurious liquor,” he said.
Subramanian denied the charge of the leader of the opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami that the Kallakurichi GH does not have stock of omeprazole, which is used to treat hooch victims. “We visited the hospital 10 minutes after the opposition leader made the charge. We found omeprazole at every patient’s bed. We checked the stock on the website of TNMSC (Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation), which oversees the administration of more than 13,000 hospitals in the state, and found that we have a stock of 4.42 crore tablets of omeprazole,” said Subramanian.
“He (EPS) is attempting to politicise the issue, but we countered him well. He is attempting to rub salt in the wound,” Subramanian said and pointed out that 53 people died and 200 people lost vision after they consumed spurious liquor in 2001 during J Jayalalithaa’s regime. The one-member judicial commission headed by retired Madras high court judge Justice B Gokuldas too visited Kallakurichi on Friday and met relatives of the deceased victims and some of those being treated in hospital.
Later in the day, chief minister M K Stalin held an online meeting with collectors and superintendents of police of all districts to review initiatives taken to curb the brewing and selling of illicit arrack.