KOCHI: Bandhu Clinic, the mobile clinic for migrant workers in Ernakulam district, has been selected as one of the 140 global experiences in promoting refugee and migrant health by the World Health Organization (WHO). Only two clinics from India have found a place the list.
The clinic was established with the aim to provide migrant workers with affordable and accessible primary healthcare services, and the selection in the WHO list showed the project’s success, said officials.
WHO listed Bandhu Clinic for its services for screening and vaccination during Covid among inter-state migrants.
Explaining the initiative, Benoy Peter, director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), the implementing agency of the project, said the residential areas of migrant people were mapped in the initial phase of the project.
“The mobile clinics visit the locations to cover some of the most vulnerable among the migrant workers, including brick kiln workers, migrant women in fish processing units, migrant fishers, nomadic communities, footloose migrant labourers and migrant families.
The intention was to provide quality primary healthcare services consistently at a location and time convenient to migrant workers,” he said.
The clinics visit the location on a weekly, monthly, and fortnightly basis. Currently, there are two Bandhu Clinics functional in the district. One clinic covers around 40,000 migrants across multiple locations. In a year, one clinic provides 15,000 treatment services to some of the most vulnerable migrant workers in the district at an operational cost of around `250. With the success of the project, NHM and CMID plan to add more clinics to saturate the coverage in the district.