BENGALURU: Karnataka is planning to relaunch its mobile medical units (MMUs), an initiative under the National Health Mission (NHM), which was launched in 2017 to strengthen the secondary healthcare system in the state. The services were stopped in March 2021 due to financial constraints.
Dr R Narayan, deputy director (MMUs) said, “We had stopped the MMU services in 2021 due to some budget restrictions and proposed to the government to increase the per unit cost being provided. The same has been accepted by them and so with slight cost cutting, it will be relaunched in 2023.”
D Randeep, health commissioner, stated that the old mandate provided by NHM was Rs 1.55 lakh per MMU. Since, the amount was not enough to set up the unit, the state government proposed to set up 34 MMUs with a unit cost of Rs 3.34 lakh.
The proposal has been accepted for a revised cost of Rs 2.8 lakh from the central government. Dr Narayan said with the approved budget, they will hire less employees per unit and start rolling out the units. The tender process for outsourcing the services is expected to start soon.
The health department is expecting approval for 50 more MMUs as well in the budget, Dr Narayan said.
Kripa M, coordinator, Concerned for Working Children, said that the government comes up with several schemes but there are problems in implementing them. The MMUs were launched to provide healthcare facilities especially in rural areas to ensure people didn’t have to travel long distances for basic services.