CHENNAI: A village health nurse who is designated to cater to 5,000 people is forced to cover almost 10 times more than the designated population at Nandhivaram in Chengalpattu district.
This is not restricted to Nandhivaram, but in many municipalities and other areas as there is a need to increase health sub-centres, said health department officials.
Each health sub-centre (HSC) has a village health nurse (VHN) who caters to a population of 5,000. In Nandhivaram, there are five HSCs and the population has increased to around 2.5 lakhs so there is need for more health sub-centres, said an official.
“This is the problem in developing urban areas. One village health nurse is forced to cater to 40,000 people, which is not possible. Many are struggling to meet the requirements and targets,” said a village health nurse.
The core functions of HSCs are delivering maternal and child health, family welfare services, treating minor injuries and implementing all the national and state health programmes at grass root level.
The workload of VHNs has increased as Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME) and Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) registration work have to be updated daily by VHNs. “We have to enter data every day on the PICME portal which is important for pregnant women to avail schemes like Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme and other benefits. Immunisation status of child and mother are among other important data,” said a village health nurse.
Dr K Kolandaswamy, former Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said, there is a need to increase village health nurses, which means they have to increase health sub-centres.
“But, even today many HSCs are functioning from rented buildings and many are dilapidated. VHNs play an important role in delivering maternal and child health care,” he said.
A senior health official said the DPH has requested the government for more health sub -centres and increasing village health nurses to deliver primary health care.