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Mohalla clinics at metro stations, ISBTs and veggie markets
New Delhi
New Delhi
Delhi will soon get mohalla clinics in metro stations, bus terminals and sabji mandis (vegetable wholesale markets) in a couple of months, health minister Satyendar Jain has said.
This is part of the government’s push to set up 1,000 neighbourhood clinics in the city, one in every 5-km radius.
Work on the project picked up pace last month, with 100 new clinics opening up in just over a month. These clinics will be inaugurated by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jain at Timarpur on Saturday.
According to officials, another 100 clinics will come up in another 20 days. The clinics are being set up either at rented premises or in porta-cabins.
“No city in the entire world has set up so many primary health centres in just one term of the government. In the last 70 years, the Delhi government has set up a total of only about 250 dispensaries, polyclinics, etc. Our aim is to set up 1,000 clinics,” Jain said.
Apart from the clinics that will be inaugurated on Saturday, work on another 200 portacabin clinics are underway. These will be ready over the next two or two-and-a-half-months. By the end of the year, there will be over 500 clinics,” he said.
Of these upcoming clinics, three will be inside metro stations. Apart from that, three will be in the Inter-State Bus Terminals at Anand Vihar, Kashmere Gate, and Sarai Kale Khan.
Five others will be set up in five mandis across the city in Azadpur, Ghazipur, Narela, Najafgarh, and Okhla.
The government will also put up CCTV cameras at all its clinics.
The existing mohalla clinics have seen 1.69 crore patients so far, and conducted almost 16 lakh tests. All clinics together receive about 35-40,000 patients each day, which is 20% of all the patients treated in Delhi government healthcare facilities.
“This is actually 40% of the OPD in all our facilities if we consider the number of patients who came to our hospitals before. Now OPD numbers have gone up because we have started providing all drugs and tests free,” said Jain.
The government had planned the mohalla clinics to decongest the government hospitals.
“However, this has not happened; the numbers will go down hopefully when all the clinics come up. What we have realised is that 75% of the patients coming to the mohalla clinic are those who never sought treatment at government facilities,” said Jain.
