CHHATTISGARH: When three-year-old Deva Linga, suffering from mixed-species malaria infections, from Kuakonda in Chhattishgarh’s Dantewada was brought to a Haat Bazaar Clinic she was motionless.
She was immediately given artesunate intra-venous fluid injection by doctors. Within a few days, the child recovered completely. For Linga, it was getting a second life.
Rasontin Kawde, 36, from Tarandul — a village in Kanker district — never knew that she had chronic diabetes until diagnosed at the clinic. Now, she is recuperating.
Nandi Markam, a former woman sarpanch in Sukma, was pregnant but had complications. Thanks to the advice of doctors at a Haat Bazaar Clinic, both the mother and the child are doing fine after the delivery.
They are among the thousands of patients living in remote places in the state who have been benefited under the Mukhyamantri Haat Bazaar Clinic Yojana, an ambitious project of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, launched on October 2, 2019, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Under this scheme, mobile healthcare vans are deputed at weekly haat bazaars across the state. They are frequented by forest dwellers for selling minor forest produce.
Medical teams comprising specialist doctors, staff nurse, multi-purpose workers and medicines to these weekly markets are provided.
These clinics also facilitate OPD consultations. So, the haat bazaar clinics are making low-cost, quality healthcare a reality for those living in the surrounding areas.
“The scheme has garnered encouraging responses. Healthcare for all should remain an utmost priority,” said Baghel.
“Based on the vision of our chief minister, such clinics are reaching out to remote areas with health services.
"It’s an ideal concept for villagers as most rural people flock together for treatment at Haat Bazaar Clinics where our healthcare workers, besides treatment, provides consultation, medicines, follow-up course and pathological facilities,” said Dr Kamlesh Jain, state nodal officer of the Haat Bazar Clinic scheme.
He added that there are 1,406 such clinics operating across the state. The response could be gauged from the footfall these clinics recorded.
Between October 2019 and March this year, as many as 8.5 lakh people were attended by the medical staff at these clinics.
There are guidelines specified for the operation of these clinics — should be at least 3 km away from the existing health centre; only OPD facility should be available; on any given day, at least 3-4 staff should be available for 4-5 hours; after diagnosis, patients should be given free medicines.
The state government has earmarked a budgetary outlay of Rs15 crore for the scheme for 2020-21. “We speak to villagers in their dialect.
On average, 70 people are treated a clinic a day. Routine check-up to the diagnosis of various diseases and treatment with a follow-up is carried out,” said Navin Pandey, RMA, based at Tarandul.
About the scheme
Mobile healthcare vans are deputed at weekly haat bazaars. Medical teams and medicines to these weekly markets are provided. These clinics also facilitate OPD consultations.