Govt to set up 100 more mohalla clinics in 15 days
NEW DELHI: The Capital will get another 100 mohalla clinics within the next 15 days, taking the total number such primary health centres (PHCs) to over 400.
The Delhi government plans to set up a total of 1,000 mohalla clinics that provides affordable care, including free essential medical services, across the city— one every 1 km apart.
Of these upcoming clinics, three will be at metro stations, three at Inter-State Bus Terminals at Anand Vihar, Kashmere Gate, and Sarai Kale Khan, and five others will be set up in five mandis across the city in Azadpur, Gazipur, Narela, Najafgarh, and Okhla. The government also plans to set up over 200 such clinics in government schools.
“The work on mohalla clinics is going on at a fast pace and another 100 clinics will be inaugurated in a fortnight,” said a senior Delhi government official, on condition of anonymity. “A few of these clinics are coming up every day, and the CM will inaugurate it when 100 clinics start working.”
Of the 302 currently operational, 100 were inaugurated in October. Several of the new clinics were built in middle class or upscale colonies.
“When those who can afford expensive private hospitals start using government services as a matter of choice, it’s the biggest certificate of quality,” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said earlier this week.
Initially, the government had planned to set up all the clinics in a year (by 2016-end), but ran into trouble with the lieutenant governor and the landowning agencies. Only 110 of these clinics had been set up in 2016, the number increased to 185 in 2018.
The government renewed its targets to set up a total of 530 clinics by the end of the 2019 financial year, according to its outcome budget. “The delay initially were because of the availability of land. Around 1,400 sites belonging to various government agencies had been surveyed. Of these, around 700 were unsuitable, the Delhi development authority refused to hand over around 230 sites. Around 72 clinics were to be set up in metro stations as well for which we were in talks with Delhi Metro but the land actually belongs to Delhi Development Authority,” said the official on condition of anonymity.
“The mohalla clinics are opening very close to the community and will likely improve healthseeking behaviour in the people. Also, there is a huge issue of access across the country with doctors not going to PHCs and medicines missing. And, this problem exists in Delhi as well, especially in the peripheries. This problem of access will be addressed when all the mohalla clinics come up,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital.