Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on August 2, 2025, launched medical camps in all 38 districts under the ‘Nalam Kaakkum Stalin’ initiative, designed to bring healthcare directly to people. Speaking at the inauguration held at St. Bede’s Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School in Santhome, he noted this was his first public programme outside Fort St. George since being discharged from a private Chennai hospital following recent health treatment. He framed the scheme as a measure to protect public welfare, equating the well-being of the people with his own.

Stalin said the first phase comprises 1,256 camps, with an emphasis on rural areas, regions with limited advanced medical services, and locations with higher Scheduled Caste populations. Each camp is staffed by 200 medical personnel, including doctors, offering 17 specialized services. Special attention will be given to economically disadvantaged individuals, people with diabetes and hypertension, cardiac patients, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. Beneficiaries will receive their test reports in a file, which will serve as a portable medical record usable across facilities.

Highlighting equity in health access, Stalin said the goal is to extend the kind of care available in cities to poorer populations, noting that Tamil Nadu’s healthcare infrastructure is distributed throughout its villages. He urged people who cannot easily reach hospitals to take advantage of these nearer-to-home services. Stalin appealed to attending doctors to treat those coming to the camps as “medical beneficiaries” and to provide them with the highest standard of care. He expressed his ambition for Tamil Nadu to lead in all domains, particularly in healthcare, insisting the state should be the foremost in delivering medical services and safeguarding public health.