Government Says Hindi Labels on Hospital Drug Packs Were Approved by Previous Administration

Chennai, 7 October – Tamil Nadu’s health minister, Dr. K. G. Arunraj, defended the use of Hindi on medicine envelopes, stating that the design received official clearance from the former DMK government.

The minister disclosed that the envelopes distributed at the Karur Government Medical College Hospital and Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital were ordered in December 2025 to address a shortage of centrally supplied packets. An emergency procurement of four lakh envelopes was placed with the Erode District Printing Industrial Cooperative Society, a transaction that took place while the DMK held power.

According to Arunraj, the packets carried dosage timing instructions—morning, noon and night—exclusively in Tamil, while the Hindi text appeared only as a label. When the current administration learned of the controversy, it promptly halted further distribution of the Hindi‑labelled envelopes.

For the Coimbatore facility, the same envelope design was printed by the Chintamani Cooperative Society following an administrative approval granted about three years earlier, also under the DMK regime.

Arunraj criticized the opposition for accusing the present government of wrongdoing when the format was already sanctioned and used without objection during the previous term. He emphasized that his ministry merely procured the stock to fulfil existing demand, without altering design or language.

He reaffirmed the state’s dedication to its two‑language policy and urged the DMK to play a constructive opposition role rather than exploiting the matter for political gain.

Documentation of the envelope order and distribution, he added, undermines the DMK’s claims and shows that the contested packets were withdrawn once the issue entered the government’s awareness.