Gujarat slum areas all set to have Deendayal Clinics soon, says Deputy CM Nitin Patel

21-12-2020

Ahmedabad: Nitin Patel, Deputy CM announced yesterday about the launch of Deendayal Clinics in slum areas of urban and semi-urban areas of Gujarat. The scheme was ignored for over six months due to Covid. Directions have been provided to all the civic bodies to identify areas where such clinics can be put up, according to Patel. The scheme was announced in Gujarat budget of 2020-21. Patel told in his budget speech, �I announce the scheme of starting one Urban Health Centre each for a population of 10,000. Various health care services will be provided at this centre through an MBBS or AYUSH doctor.� �We could not start it then because the entire health machinery was busy in dealing with Covid. But now with Covid going down, we have decided to start it,� Patel told the media. Such clinics would be set up in slum areas of civic bodies with over 1lakh population. Patel added, �We have instructed the municipal commissioners to identify the areas in their respective cities where such clinics can be set up while giving priority to populated areas.� There are many slums where ambulance or rickshaws cannot enter, according to Patel. People from such regions avoid visiting a doctor during the initial phase of a disease. They will go to a private doctor or a government clinic after the disease worsens. Gujarat government realised the positive results of providing health services at people�s doorstep during Covid, according to Patel. These clinics would begin at a primary school building, an anganwadi centre or a temporary building, according to an official release. An MBBS or AYUSH doctor would conduct an OPD in these regions between 4pm and 9pm every day. These doctors would be free to privately practice during the remaining hours. The release said that those with serious illnesses would be referred for speciality or super speciality treatment under MAA, Maa Vatsalya and Pradhanmantri Jan Arogya Yojana.