Political Dispute Over Trilingual Medicine Covers
A political controversy has erupted in Tamil Nadu regarding the distribution of medicine covers containing instructions in Tamil, English, and Hindi at government medical college hospitals in Karur and Coimbatore. The incident has intensified tensions between the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over the state’s two-language policy.
The issue came to public attention on Tuesday when DMK leader and former Industries Minister T.R.B. Rajaa posted photographs of brown medicine covers on the social media platform X. In his post, Rajaa questioned the presence of Hindi in government hospitals and alleged that a three-language policy was being implemented across the state.
Rajaa stated that similar covers were first used in Karur and subsequently appeared in Coimbatore. The covers carried instructions regarding the timing and manner of consuming medicines in Tamil, English, and Hindi. Following the controversy, Rajaa’s post highlighted the opposition's longstanding stance against the imposition of Hindi in Tamil Nadu.
TVK Administration Responds to Allegations
Tamil Nadu Health Minister K.G. Aruraj responded to the criticism by accusing the DMK of indulging in "cheap politics." Aruraj asserted that the present TVK administration had not designed or altered the language on the covers, but rather utilized stock available from previous procurement orders.
According to Aruraj, the medicine covers used in Karur were procured following a shortage of usual supplies from the Central Prison. He stated that an emergency order for 400,000 covers was placed on December 31, 2025, during the previous DMK regime. The minister noted that these specific covers entered circulation in January 2026.
Regarding the situation in Coimbatore, Aruraj explained that the use of similar covers had been approved through administrative procedures three years ago during the DMK regime and were printed and brought into use then. He emphasized that the present administration merely used covers available in stock and had not altered their design or language.
Immediate Withdrawal and Replacement
The minister added that the covers were immediately withdrawn at both hospitals after the issue came to the government’s notice. At Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, the administration replaced the brown covers on Tuesday evening. A senior official at Coimbatore stated that the original covers were printed and supplied by the Chinthamani Cooperative Society and had been in use for a considerable period.
Pharmacists at Coimbatore were instructed to use new covers carrying only Tamil and English, aligning with the state's two-language policy. In Karur, authorities confirmed that they would revert to covers sourced from the Central Prison, which have details stamped in Tamil only.
Hospital Authorities Clarify Procurement Timeline
Government Medical College, Karur, Dean M. Bharathi Mohan clarified that the order for the brown medicine covers was placed on December 24, 2025, during the erstwhile DMK regime. He noted that while the order was placed then, the items were taken into use only recently.
Following the political controversy, Dean M. Bharathi Mohan instructed staff to stop issuing medicines in the covers containing Hindi. This directive came after Karur government hospital authorities stated that the covers were not newly designed or introduced by the present administration, but were part of existing stock management protocols.