Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Tuesday opened 500 urban public health centres that will provide free healthcare services to the urban poor, including vaccinations for children and pregnant women, screenings for conditions including diabetes, hypertension, and tuberculosis, and medications for illnesses.
Need to cater to the urban poor
500 urban primary healthcare centres, including 189 UPHCs in municipalities and 140 under the Greater Chennai Corporation, 50 for Coimbatore, 46 for Salem, Trichy, and Tiruppur, were opened from the new facility on Vijayaraghava Road in T Nagar. Stalin announced in the assembly that the state would also establish 708 urban primary health centres in 2022 to meet the requirements of those who live in cities, drawing inspiration from the Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian stated, "Three decades ago, when young doctors graduated, they would set up small clinics near their houses, benefitting people in their neighbourhood. However, such clinics have vanished. Now these urban centres will work for the urban poor, just like how primary health centres have worked for the people in rural areas", he added.
Expensive treatments to be given for free
These clinics, each of which cost Rs 25 lakh, will each include a doctor, nurse, health inspector, and assistant who have been hired through the district health organisations. According to him, they would offer a dozen primary healthcare services in two shifts between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. as part of the "Universal Health Coverage Programme." He noted that over the past two years, the state has received approval to open 11 nursing colleges and a dental college.
The goal, according to Subramanian, is to make preventive, promotional, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative care treatments available for free to local residents. According to him, these UPHCs will use the e-Sanjeevani app to refer patients to higher levels of treatment, such as peripheral hospitals, district headquarters, or government medical college hospitals, and they will provide telemedicine facilities for consultations.
