Sunday mid morning gyan: what we have got to remember is that Tamil Nadu has a very robust system in place, on the field, a system that is tuned like clockwork to respond in an emergency, be it at the revenue admin level, or public health care. #Covid-19 thread 1/n

This apart from comparatively reasonable infrastructure facilities in rural areas, in PHCs, taluk and district headquarters hospital. The presence of a unique public health cadre with extensive epidemic handling experience, is a big strength in times such as these 2/n

There is also, in Tamil Nadu, a medical services corporation set up by retd IAS officer Poornalingam that is in charge of centralised, bulk procurement of medical supplies for the entire state. It has been purchasing masks, PPE and drugs for the state, in advance. 3/n

Tamil Nadu has had, for years, the precursor of the PMJAY scheme - A comprehensive state sponsored insurance scheme for the poor to access services in high end private sector hospitals. It covers support for transplants too 4/n

The state also has a huge private sector, at different levels of the cost and service spectrum. That has been playing a mere marginal role during this epidemic, (and is there a lesson in that?) 5/n

As the lockdown slowed down the pace of the epidemic in the state, the government set itself the task of preparing its hospitals with extra beds and ventilators for future use. Another matter that in a mere week atleast two govt hospitals in Chennai had filed to the brim 6/n

But that preparedness is helping especially in the districts now, as the cases are increasing in these areas as well. TNMSC is remaining ahead of the curve, offering supplies much before they run out, cutting out usual bureaucratic process 7/n

The state responded early and well to the first crisis of the epidemic- the returnees from the Delhi conference cooperated well here. Contact tracing and testing after isolation helped in crossing this mark. 8/n

However, the suddenness of the announcement 4 day super lockdown, which led to a mad rush to buy supplies. The announcement about extended timing came too late to help. That has probably translated to the hundreds of positives we are seeing in Chennai 9/n

Allowing Koyambedu fruit, veggie, flower market to remain open right through smacks of missing the obvious. It’s known that large markets have been at the centre of spreading the epidemic. To have done nothing about Koyambedu, that’s a big miss. 10/n

Ensuring the PPEs and supplies are well distributed among centres, making sure frontline and healthcare workforce is safe, protecting vulnerable pops,not slowing down the pace of testing,keeping the fatality rate low & increasing the discharge rate are focus areas for TN 11/n

This is my list. What do you reckon are other strengths/challenges for TN ahead? Do keep adding... 12/12