RANCHI: The state government plans to start ‘Mohalla Clinics’ that will offer free medical care to people living in slums in Jharkhand.
“These clinics will be like primary health centers (PHCs) and will offer free diagnostics facilities, treatment and medicine for minor ailments. This step has been taken for the benefit of daily wagers, who lose a day’s salary if they visit a regular hospital for treatment. The clinics will open seven days in a week in morning and evening. Serious patients would be referred to bigger hospitals for treatment,” said, Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Health Minister of Jharkhand Each clinic will offer Out Patient Department (OPD), vaccination, maternity, post-natal and family planning services, along with tests for malaria, tuberculosis and small ailments. Doctors will be paid for the number of patients they treat in a clinic.
According to a Health Department official, “Every slum will get a mohalla clinic on a population of 15,000. Based on the number of slums, some 25 temporary mohalla clinics have been planned in the state.”