AAP govt to open mohalla clinics in schools
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will set up 110 mohalla clinics or neighbourhood clinics in its schools, as part of its project to set up 1,000 such clinics across the city to reduce patient load of the hospitals. Fifty such sites have already been identified.
Apart from treating the students, providing routine checkup and creating an infirmary for the students, the mohalla clinics will also cater to the people in the area around the schools. “The students will have regular health and dental checkups on periodic basis and these mohalla clinics will also solve the problem of infirmaries. The schools had no such facilities till now,” said Dr Tarun Seem, Delhi health secretary.
Parents of children attending Delhi government schools have opposed the move. “If clinic is exclusively for school students, it is welcome. But if it for general public, such clinics should not be opened on the school premises,” an association of parents wrote to the chief minister.
However, the Delhi government has ensured that the security and health of the students does not get compromised.
“There will be two entrances to these clinics — one door for the students and the other for the public. No one will be able to enter the school premises from within the clinic. Another concern that parents had was that the patients could make the children sick. This fear is completely baseless as the people visiting the clinics are from within the community, which means that the children are already exposed to the bacteria or viruses in their own neighbourhoods,” said Dr Seem.
