Uttar Pradesh: 48 urban health wellness centres to come up in Prayagraj soon

As part of the state government’s efforts to provide comprehensive primary health care services to the communities closer to their homes, 48 health and wellness centres (HWCs) would soon come up in and near 96 slums of Prayagraj districts

As part of the state government’s efforts to provide comprehensive primary health care services to the communities closer to their homes, 48 health and wellness centres (HWCs) would soon come up in and near 96 slums of Prayagraj districts.

The move will help provide all basic healthcare facilities to around a million people. (For Representation)

The move will help provide all basic healthcare facilities to around a million people, said district medical and health officials. The health department will ensure the presence of necessary medical equipment, doctors and paramedical staff at these new sub centres, they added. Deputy chief medical officer and urban nodal officer for the initiative, Dr Ravendra Singh said these centres will be opened in urban areas of Sangam city.

“Around 31 places have already been identified and efforts are under way to identify other sites for setting up these HWCs. Cooperation has also been sought from the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation and the district urban development agency (DUDA) to help find appropriate places for the proposed centres,” Dr Singh said.

He further said each of these centres will cater to the needs of around 20,000 people thereby benefiting a population of around 10 lakh people through this initiative. He said these centres will offer free check-up and treatment facilities to patients. Seriously ill patients will be referred to urban primary health centres concerned by them, he added.

Each of these centres will have one doctor, one staff nurse and two auxiliary nurse and midwives (AMNs) besides other staff members as per need. These HWCs will start functioning within the next few days itself, he said.

At these centres, 14 diagnostic facilities will be provided to patients. Officials said these centres will have arrangements for maternal health, child and adolescent health, immunisation, diabetes, blood pressure check-up and treatment for communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Activities such as yoga and exercise, counselling, health education, emergency medical facilities will also be available there. People will be also made aware of the ways to prevent the spread of seasonal diseases at these HWCs. Around 5,000 such HWCs are being set up across Uttar Pradesh by the state government as part of this initiative.

According to health department officials, the selection of place for setting up HWCs is being done on the basis of vulnerability assessment and mapping of the urban areas, slums/vulnerable areas and areas with no primary health care facility.

The urban HWCs will have an outpatient department (OPD) room, another room for vaccination, a waiting and registration area, one wellness room and a separate day care room. Each room size has been defined. For example, the OPD will be a 100-sq feet room and waiting room and registration 210 sq feet.