Unicef initiative: Saving patients from queries at hosps
Patients arriving at five health facilities in the city are seldom in a quandary over where to go. They head straight to the counters they are supposed to.
The ‘Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Communication Branding’ i nitiative has brought about a change in the way patients and health staff behave at Lok Bandhu Hospital, Health Sub-Centre (Lalpur), Primary Health Centre (Nigohan), Community Health Centre (Chinhat), and Avanti Bai Mahila Chikitsalaya.
Signages put up at these health centres with detailed description of services help the patients find the appropriate counters, thus saving them from unwarranted queries.
The National Health Mission, with support of UNICEF, has developed a social and behaviour change communication strategy. One of the key communication needs articulated is to make public health facilities in the state community and client-friendly. The state, despite i mproved health services, has not been able to address the dropouts in critical behaviours like immunisa- tion in children below one year. With poor knowledge and lack of motivation being the prime reasons, the communication branding initiative was introduced to accelerate informed utilisation of services among those in need. The initiative was implemented in October 2015.
Arvind Kumar, principal secretary (Health), Alok Kumar, mission director, and Niloufar Pourzand, UNICEF field office chief, apprised mediapersons of the initiative’s implementation.
Kumar emphasised that the government was also making efforts to improve service quality with the help of NABH accreditation process in 50 district-level health facilities in UP under the UP Health System Strengthening Project (UPHSP).
UNICEF has completed five model health centres and the state government is replicating the model at 1285 public health facilities this year.