TN govt keen on promoting Tamil in medicine

The Tamil Nadu government is keen on promoting Tamil in the field of medicine, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Sunday, highlighting the recent release of five medical textbooks in Tamil.

He was inaugurating the Ear, Nose, Throat, Head and Neck Medical Science Conference, which was organised entirely in Tamil for the first time. Stalin said the government was trying to offer all professional courses in Tamil.

Lauding the organisers for holding such a conference in Tamil, he highlighted how every aspect of the conference — right from the invitation, the venue and the attire of many doctors who had come in dhotis — reflected Tamil culture.

He especially appreciated Mohan Kameswaran, managing director and chief surgeon, Madras ENT Research Foundation, for his efforts at putting together the conference. He recalled the long relationship he and his family, especially late Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, had with Dr Kameswaran and his family. He highlighted Dr Kameswaran’s role in the State government devising a programme to offer free cochlear implants to children with hearing impairment.

He expressed the hope that the deliberations in Tamil at the conference would help in creating awareness among the masses of the ENT-related illnesses. He appealed to the participants to deliberate on making healthcare affordable to all people. Highlighting the advances in medicine, the Chief Minister, however, said treatment had also become expensive.

Dr Kameswaran said the conference was the first step towards creating a medical encyclopaedia in Tamil, and eventually offering medical education in Tamil. Interacting with the media, he said it was the responsibility of medical professionals like him to play a proactive role in creating new words in Tamil for medical terminologies.

N. Ezhilan, Thousand Lights MLA, said more such conferences in Tamil were needed to prevent the spread of pseudoscience and unscientific treatments offered in the name of ‘Tamil medicine’ and ‘natural medicine’. He highlighted the need for taking the importance of evidence-based medicine to people in Tamil.

The day-long conference, organised by the Association of Otolaryngologists of India, Tamil Nadu, had discussions and presentations on many topics in Tamil. The Hindu