In a bid to provide better health care facilities to children, the Arvind Kejriwal Government has approved opening of 110 Mohalla Clinics in the Government-run schools to be identified by Directorate of Education (DoE) across the city.
The clinics would serve dual purpose. They will treat sick students on the school premises and clinic will have a separate entry for the general public. These Mohalla Clinics would be run on porta cabin, having sick room facility for schoolchildren. After the Delhi Cabinet that met on Tuesday accorded in principle approval to 100 new Mohalla Clinics, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked the Health Department to expedite the process.
“Thus these Mohalla Clinics inside Government-run schools would be run in porta cabin (temporary structure). These clinics will have two opening -one exclusively for schoolchildren and other for general public. It has also decided that these clinics would also serve as sick room facility for schoolchildren, which was earlier available in only top public schools in the national capital”, sources told The Pioneer.
According to sources, the Health Department and Public Works Department had earlier surveyed 500 premises of Government schools across the city. Of these 265 found viable for setting up such clinics. Of these, Directorate of Education has given approval for only 110 schools which found viable and spacious for opening of Mohalla Clinics.
Sources said the AAP Government have planned to open at least 300 Mohalla Clinics inside the Government-run schools as it is finding difficult to get space for opening such clinics.
The AAP Government had made provision of Rs 5,259 crore for the health sector in its 2016-17 Budget, a hike of close to 10 per cent over the allocation last fiscal. It has also promised to add 10,000 new beds at the hospitals run by it and also open 1,000 Mohalla Clinics across the city to improve health sector.
It is noted that these Mohalla Clinics are the first level of the Delhi Government’s “three-tier public health roadmap” to make healthcare accessible to all, and to reduce crowding at Government hospitals. Since the plan was introduced last year, over 100 clinics have been opened. They are expected to offer primary healthcare like basic consultations and medicines. The second tier will consist of polyclinics offering specialist care and a wider spectrum of diagnostics including X-Ray and ultrasound. Patients who need surgery or hospitalisation are referred to the final tier - Government hospitals.
“A Mohalla Clinic as envisioned by the Aam Aadmi Government, is different from the Government dispensary, which is usually a bigger space with a waiting area and several rooms. While a dispensary costs about Rs 3 crore to set up, a Mohalla Clinic can be set up with just Rs 20 lakh. The Delhi Government uses pre-fabricated, semi-permanent portable cabins that can be assembled anywhere for these clinics,” said a senior official of Health Department.