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Group of doctors gives free medical aid to labourers in Ghansoli
A group of doctors from Navi Mumbai has started a health clinic in Ghansoli for daily wage labourers and lower income groups to provide free medical assistance.
A group of doctors from Navi Mumbai has started a health clinic in Ghansoli for daily wage labourers and lower income groups to provide free medical assistance.
A bus equipped with an X-ray machine and blood testing is stationed at Samaj Mandir Hall.
The clinic may soon reach other areas of the city.
Dr Prashant Thorat, an ophthalmologist, set up the clinic with Dr Prakash Shendge, a surgeon with Kopar Khairane-based Om Gagangiri Hospital, and four other doctors.
The nodal clinic set up at Ghansoli is catering to slum dwellers and daily wage workers, who are severely affected in the 21-day lockdown.
“Many general practitioners are afraid of opening their clinics, fearing infection. But, doctors are needed the most now. Our aim is to help those unable to afford private hospitals as even the middle-income groups are affected,” said Dr Thorat.
Patients can visit the clinic from 9am to noon. “If we find patients with symptoms of coronavirus, they will be referred to the health department, said Dr Thorat.
Volunteers from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and a few NGOs will help expand the clinic by providing them personal protection equipment (PPE). They are looking at areas like Turbhe and Rabale where doctors are needed for the huge slum population.
“We have three buses which we plan to use for community health service. Based on the response from the first clinic, we will identify more areas and set up clinics. This will also help us screen patients with coronavirus symptoms,” said Dr Shendge.Doctors have urged more medical associations to help them run the community clinics.
The Navi Mumbai based ophthalmologist has also started a free online consultation where patients can seek consultation from a family physician, gynecologist, paediatrician, etc.
