PMC to start nine Health and Wellness Centres

The HWC will be established in accordance with the Central Government’s directive of the 15th Finance Commission.

SLUG: Focus on primitive care

PMC will open 29 HWCs this year, and work on nine centres has been completed and will be operational before the end of the month. (HT PHOTO)

PUNE

In a month, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will open nine Health and Wellness Centres (HWC) to provide preventative, curative, and primitive health and medical services. According to officials, twenty more such facilities will open in the coming months.

The HWC will be established in accordance with the Central Government’s directive of the 15th Finance Commission. PMC will open 29 HWCs this year, and work on nine centres has been completed and will be operational before the end of the month.

However, work on the remaining 20 HWCs is currently underway and will take several months, according to officials.

Dr Vaishali Jadhav, assistant health officer of PMC, said, the majority of the centres are in the villages recently merged in PMC limits and will help to provide better healthcare facilities to such citizens.

“The infrastructure and space for the centres belong to PMC and for some centres, the Gram Panchayat has provided the structure. Every centre will come up in a structure of 600 to 1000 sq ft area to avoid inconvenience to the patients and overcrowding,” she informed.

HWCs will be built in Dhankawadi, Hadapsar, Kondhwe Dhawde, Bavdhan, Paud Road and Shivne, among other locations.

The institutes will offer curative therapy and management for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as well as prenatal care to pregnant women. Immunisation will be provided as part of preventive care for children, pregnant women, and citizens.

In primitive care, Yoga classes will be conducted at the centres, informed the officials.

Dr Jadhav also stated that there will be a Teleconsulting service for patients who visit the clinics and require the consultation of experienced and specialised specialists.

“We have partnered with the Aundh district hospital for specialised doctor consultations. PMC will also brand these clinics to raise public knowledge about the services available. PMC has finished the tender process for branding HWCs,” she stated.

Dr Bhagwan Pawar, PMC health officer, said, the civic body has a plan to start a total of 29 HWCs this year, and next year 96 more facilities will be started in PMC limits. Given the population of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the number of existing healthcare facilities must be increased.

“The majority of the facilities that PMC currently has are within the city limits, and there is a need to expand healthcare facilities in the recently merged villages. As a result, for the next 96 HWCs, we have instructed the team to identify regions where PMC’s healthcare services are unavailable or located a long distance away,” he explained.

Dr Pawar went on to say that HWCs will help to control the rise of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.

“People with pre-existing NCDs will also benefit greatly from these centres,” he says.