Amid COVID-19 surge, Tamil Nadu health secretary Beela Rajesh transferred

With COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu surging, crossing a total of 38,000, the state government transferred health secretary Dr Beela Rajesh, and posted J. Radhakrishan, Revenue Administration Commissioner, to the health department.

According to highly placed sources, the government was upset following a news report on the number of COVID-19 deaths being under-reported. Reports claimed that 200 fatalities suspected to be linked to the infection were not counted in the state's official toll. Following this, Tamil Nadu had ordered a coronavirus death audit. 

In a government order, issued on Friday morning, Beela Rajesh, principal secretary of health and family welfare, was transferred and posted as secretary to commerical taxes and registration department. 

J Radhakrishan, the replacement, is a senior bureaucrat who is known to have handled several disasters including tsunamis. Radhakrishnan served as principal health and family welfare secretary for over seven years before being transferred and posted as revenue administration commissioner in February 2019. He was transferred just days after he deposed before the Arumughaswamy Commission enquiring into the mystery behind former chief minister Jayalalithaa's death.

Incidentally, in April, when the Koyambedu COVID-19 cluster formed, Radhakrishnan was brought in as the nodal officer to handle the pandemic. It was only then that the Koyambedu market was shut down, on May 7. On the other hand, health department sources also say that Beela Rajesh's transfer was initiated by top names in the state government at least two weeks before, but it failed to materialise until now.