THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Urban Slum Health Upliftment Scheme (USHUS), a project of the Health Department to improve the health of thousands of people living in the slums of the state, was inaugurated at Karimadom Colony here the other day.
Inaugurating the project, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said such a project is being launched taking into account the existing situation in which financially-backward and marginalised residents of slums are not getting better health services. He also performed the inauguration of the Urban Primary Health Centre in the Colony.
Presiding over the function, Health Minister V S Sivakumar said USHUS is being implemented as part of the urban health project to be started in 76 slums across the state. In the selected slums, Urban Slum Health Activists (USHA) are to be deployed.
The project envisages medical camps, epidemic-prevention activities, service of mobile medical groups and preventive injections. Treatment will be free and medicines will be provided free of cost.
Sivakumar said the service of USHUS will be made available through the urban primary health centres of the City Corporation and Neyyattinkara and Nedumangad municipalities in Thiruvananthapuram district.
Mayor K Chandrika, deputy mayor G Happykumar, Director of Health Services Dr P K Jameela, NRHM state programme manager Dr N Sreedhar, district medical officer Dr K M Sirabudeen, DPM Dr B Unnikrishnan, councillor P S Nair, Corporation Health Standing Committee chairperson S Pushpalatha and opposition leader in the City Corporation Johnson Joseph spoke.