Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Tuesday launched 80 Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) for the tea gardens of the State and said that the MMUs will bring health care facilities closure to the tea garden workers.
Nadda launched 80 MMUs each equipped with a doctor, an ANM nurse, a laboratory technician, a pharmacist and a technician for eye care that will cover 320 gardens of the state, providing healthcare for seven days to one garden continuously.
The Union Minister termed this as a historic initiative of the Government which would be able to make healthcare accessible to the tea community of the State. “Assam’s identity is synonymous with its tea gardens but the large number of people in tea garden areas are yet to get healthcare facilities,” he said adding that the high Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) among pregnant women in tea garden areas due to anaemia and other diseases are still a major cause of worry.
To address this concern, dedicated MMUs have been launched to provide healthcare in interior tea gardens, Nadda said adding that 320 tea gardens where existing healthcare facilities are not adequate and which need immediate care, shall be covered by 80 MMU vehicles.
Assam health minister Himanta Biswa sarma explained that one MMU will cover four tea gardens in total. It will operate for seven days in one tea garden and then the MMU would move to the next tea garden. Completing the cycle of nearly a month, the MMU would return to the first village and begin its operation, he said.