VIJAYAWADA: Transformation of Sub Health Centres (SHCs) in the state as YSR Village Clinics is happening at a swift pace. As many as 2,920 of the proposed 10,032 village clinics have already been established and the remaining are expected to be functional by the end of the current fiscal, that is by March 31, 2022.
SHCs were manned by ANMs and largely confined to the role of giving health advisory, but the Village Clinics will have clinical examination and offer basic health services. They will be manned by Mid-Level Health Provides (MLHPs), that is staff nurses who have BSc nursing degree instead of ANMs. Besides an MLHP, each village clinic will have two ANMs and it will provide 14 diagnostic tests, have 64 types of medicines and most importantly will offer Telemedicine consultation through their link to e-Sanjeevani Telemedicine services.
“Village clinics herald a new era in public health services at the village level,” a senior medical and health department official told TNIE. He said the main objective of village clinics is to ensure timely health and medical help and reduce any delay in case of emergencies.
Further, these clinics are mandated to ensure that a healthy environment prevails in the village. In coordination with village secretariats, which are located near them, these clinics will also take precautionary actions to ward off any health situations like spread of vector borne diseases. Besides doubling as an immunisation centre, village clinics will coordinate with Anangawadis to conduct nutrition days.
However, the most important function will be telemedicine. MLHPs will contact either doctors at PHCs or doctors empanelled with Sanjeevini Hubs set up in all 13 districts to consult on behalf of the patient at the village clinics through video conference. They are being provided with tabs with the Sanjeevini app. They will follow the directions of the doctors and provide medicines and in case treatment is advised, they will either refer the patient to a PHC or YSR Aarogyasri Network hospital based on the gravity of the medical aliment.
Unlike SHCs, village clinics will provide basic treatment and basic diagnosis. Health department officials said a total of 7,458 SHCs were there in the state and on the directions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy all of them are being upgraded to village clinics. As he wanted village clinics at all village secretariats, it was decided to have 100,32 village clinics. Those village secretariats having PHCs will not have the clinics.
All the village clinics will have their own permanent building with rooms for different purposes including clinical examination, pharmacy and also living quarters for ANMs. As some of the SHCs have their own buildings, it was decided to construct 8,587 more permanent buildings for village clinics at the cost of `18 lakh per clinic. At present, 2,920 staff nurses are working in village clinics and another 3,300 are likely to be recruited in a month and around 6,000 in December.
