Chennai, Jul 28 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday launched the free Covid-19 vaccination drive in private hospitals, supported by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds of various private companies.

The then opposition DMK had urged the Centre in December 2020 to allow private CSR funds in the Covid-19 vaccination drive. After coming to power this year, the Stalin government had appealed to corporates in Tamil Nadu to support the initiative to increase the vaccination of the state's total population.

Stalin had also held detailed meetings with the representatives of these corporates, as well as industrial and trade bodies like the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for getting the CSR support to the government initiative.

During the event on Wednesday, CII's Tamil Nadu Chapter Chairman, S. Chandrakumar handed over a cheque of Rs 2.20 crore from CSR funds for the free vaccination drive in private hospitals initiated by the Chief Minister.

Adayar Ananda Bhavan MD, K.T. Srinivasa Raja, also handed over a cheque of Rs 7 lakh towards the initiative.

State Health Minister Ma Subramanian, MLAs N.Ezhilan, and Dha. Velu, Health Secretary, J. Radhakrishnan, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner, Gagan Singh Bedi, and others were present during the function.

In Tamil Nadu, a total of 2,15,17,446 individuals have taken vaccine doses through government and private hospitals.