Delhi govt to launch its own health and wellness centres

NEWDELHI: After rejecting the Centre’s health insurance scheme, the Delhi government is preparing to convert 57 of its dispensaries to ‘health and wellness centres’ as proposed under the Ayushman Bharat-pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY).

However, the centres might not end up being called “health and wellness centres” as termed under the Central scheme. The nomenclature of the insurance scheme under the Centre’s AB-PMJAY was reportedly one of the reasons the Delhi government did not get on board.

The government is planning to upgrade five dispensaries to create these centres in each of the 11 districts of Delhi, with one district getting an additional two because of the huge population.

“Most of the services listed for a health and wellness centre are already provided by our dispensaries. Additionally, the doctors at these centres will be trained to screen for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, eye, dental and mental health problems,” said Dr Kirti Bhushan, Delhi’s director general of health services.

The government has already written to speciality hospitals such as the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS), and Guru Nanak Eye Centre to train doctors posted at these centres.

“These centres have been asked to provide a training plan for doctors so that they find it easy to screen patients with these diseases. Once a proper plan is culled out, we will be able to decide by when the upgrade process will be completed,” Bhushan said.

The Delhi government said that it did not need the Centre’s insurance scheme as it was not universal and would cover only a fraction of Delhi citizens.

As per the Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC) data, which is being used for the implementation of the insurance scheme, only seven lakh families will be eligible as opposed to 24 lakh that the Delhi government’s insurance plan might cover.

“The scheme is in the planning phase. The government is working on figuring out the best coverage that will benefit the most number of people,” a Delhi government official said.

Health minister Satyendar Jain, on the other hand, said Delhi already has a universal healthcare system with its hospitals catering to all and providing medicines, tests and surgeries completely free.