Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay will launch the Thaimaman Gold Ring Scheme on September 28, under which every child born in a government hospital will be given a one-gram gold ring.
The chief minister chaired a review meeting at the Secretariat on Friday to assess the preparedness for the launch and implementation of the welfare scheme, an official statement said.
The government said it has given high priority to improving maternal and child health care through financial assistance for pregnant women, free delivery and newborn care, emergency obstetric treatment, nutritional support and advance planning for institutional deliveries.
Pregnancy and baby group monitoring and evaluation software is also being used for integrated monitoring of pregnant women and infants. The statement said that these initiatives have led to significant improvement in maternal and child health indicators of the state.
The Thaimaman Gold Ring Scheme aims to increase public confidence in government medical services and respect for newborns. It also reflects the traditional role of maternal uncle in Tamil culture.
Under this scheme, one gram gold ring will be given to all eligible babies born in government hospitals on or after June 22, 2026. The government order authorizing the scheme was issued on June 23. About 7.80 lakh births are recorded annually in Tamil Nadu.
According to the National Family Health Survey-6, about 99.9 percent of deliveries in the state take place in hospitals.
About 42 lakh deliveries take place in government hospitals, which is 53 percent of the total deliveries. Nearly 90 percent of deliveries in government hospitals take place in Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Centres.
The government said these figures highlight the important contribution of the public health system in ensuring safe deliveries and healthy newborns. Each gold ring distributed under this scheme will have a unique serial number and will be supplied in tamper proof packaging.
A total of 1.28 lakh rings have been purchased in the first phase. Mothers permanently residing in Tamil Nadu will be eligible to avail the benefits of this scheme, provided they are registered on the Pregnancy and Child Cluster Monitoring and Evaluation System (PICME) portal and have Reproductive and Child Health Identification Number.
Special arrangements have been made at 107 designated centers to distribute rings to children born between June 22 and the formal launch. Each center will serve 100 children daily from September 28. After this, rings will be handed over to the eligible newborns after they are discharged from government hospitals.