BENGALURU: Women can soon feel more comfortable about addressing their health issues, with the State health department planning to launch 128 women’s clinics in urban areas in August. While 57 clinics will be in BBMP areas in Bengaluru, the remaining will be located in other cities across the state, according to Dr Arundathi Chandrashekar, Mission Director, National Health Mission. “Karnataka will be the first to launch such public clinics in the entire country,” she said.
“The women’s clinics will be set up along the lines of well women clinics of the private sector, to address adolescents and women related issues, screening, counselling, family planning services, anti-natal care and others. These clinics will be part of Urban Public Health Centres, where a separate portion or room is allocated to examine women. This is to ensure privacy and comfort during treatment. We started 10 such clinics in Mysuru on a pilot basis recently, and there is good response to it,” Dr Arundathi said.
Mysuru District Health Officer Dr Prasad K H said women’s clinics in Mysuru are seeing at least 50 to 100 female patients per day. The staff include a woman doctor and nurses, he said. Reacting to the concept of women’s clinics in the government sector, noted gynaecologist Dr Padmini Prasad said, “Although doctors treat both male and female patients equally, even in this advanced era, at least 20 per cent of women from orthodox and even educated backgrounds hesitate to see a male doctor, especially for gynaecological issues and delivery. Many women who hide their problems related to extreme bleeding and other issues, reach us late with prolapsed uterus and advanced stages of cancer.”
These clinics will help women share their personal, private, confidential matters with female doctors, and many problems can be addressed in the beginning itself, and treated, Dr Prasad said. “It will be convenient if such clinics are started in rural areas too.”