25% of community centres in Delhi to host Arogya Mandirs

New Delhi: One in four community centres across Delhi will host an Ayushman Arogya Mandir primary healthcare centre, senior civic officials said, after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) gave its approval to repurpose 78 community centres as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in the Capital

New Delhi: One in four community centres across Delhi will host an Ayushman Arogya Mandir primary healthcare centre, senior civic officials said, after the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) gave its approval to repurpose 78 community centres as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in the Capital.

In all, there are 299 halls and centres run by the corporation. (HT Archive)

Civic officials said that they have selected underutilised centres for the project, citing a survey from last year that found 114 community halls and eight community centres vacant or underutilised. In all, there are 299 halls and centres run by the corporation.

The MCD commissioner’s proposal states, “The health department, in pursuance of strengthening primary healthcare services, is undertaking establishment of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs across the city. In this regard, the community services department identified certain halls and sites which have comparatively low annual bookings and suitable accessibility which were shared with the Delhi government for feasibility study.”

Among the selected sites are community halls in Meenakshi Garden, Hari Nagar, Rohini Sector 24, Timarpur, Fateh Nagar, New Rajinder Nagar, Rohini Sector 15, and East Patel Nagar, among other places, as these were found to be booked for between two and 17 days annually.

The approved conditions for the plan also give in-principle authorisation to the MCD commissioner to grant clearances for future proposals in this regard, as this would streamline set-up and operationalisation of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in suitable municipal properties going forward, officials said.

Ayushman Arogya Mandir, formerly known as Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC), is India’s flagship primary healthcare initiative launched to deliver comprehensive, free, and universal healthcare to local communities.

According to the MCD data, the corporation has 299 community halls in all, of which 21 are non-functional due to poor maintenance and requirement for repairs, despite high demand for such centres to hold functions. Similarly, all eight community centres are non-functional.

A senior MCD official, who did not wish to be named, said that the community centres also face staff shortages. “Community workers form the backbone of the community services department. The community workers are expected to help in operations from arranging water tankers to helping in bookings, dealing with operational problems to other maintenance works. We require 1,288 community workers and staff members for smooth operations, but we face acute staff shortage as these positions are lying vacant. Outsourcing will help in plugging these gaps of resources,” the official said.

An internal audit of the city’s community centres found that in south Delhi, 39 halls were booked for fewer than 10 days in a year, 48 were booked for 11 to 50 days in a year, and 15 units were used for 51 to 100 days. Only two units were used for 101 to 150 days, while bookings for another two units went above 150 days out of 365 days.