BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has introduced mobile health services to provide healthcare facilities at the doorstep of vulnerable sections residing in slums across the capital city.
Minister for tourism and culture Ashok Chandra Panda, Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha MP Prasanna Patsani and mayor Ananta Narayan Jena flagged off two urban mobile health vans here on Saturday.
Launched by the National Urban Health Mission, the Mobile Health Units (MHUs) will address the health issues of the vulnerable groups by extending preventive and curative healthcare services, with a special focus on communicable diseases.
The self-contained well-equipped vehicles, managed by a team of medical and paramedical workers, are primarily envisaged to provide healthcare to the people surviving in sub-standard living conditions.
The mobile units will assess and identify locations and groups, especially the floating population and migrant workers who are susceptible to diseases. The vehicles equipped with medical equipment and staff will provide emergency health care service at doorsteps.
The MHU, having one MBBS or AYUSH doctor, one pharmacist and one auxiliary nurse midwife, will cover the floating population in construction sites and other locations like railway station, night shelters, habitation and work places of temporary migrants including street children, rag pickers and rickshaw pullers.
The teams will also cover the slum areas which are located at more than two kms distance from any Primary Health Centre (PHC) within BMC limits.
An official said the vehicle will be operating 22 days a month on different sites of the city. Consultation and treatment of common ailments and referral of complicated cases will be done on a priority. The MHU will facilitate early detection of tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, and other locally endemic communicable and non-communicable diseases, he said.
The MHU are carrying rapid diagnostic test kits for collection of sputum and test of blood sugar. Ante-natal checkup and related services such as injection - tetanus toxoid and distribution of iron and folic acid tablets have also been listed in the MHU’s routine.
It will act as an emergency services vehicles in case of an outbreak of epidemic. Common services like blood pressure and blood sugar examination for detection of diabetic cases, blood sugar monitoring for under treatment cases will be done at these units.
“The MHUs staff will be empowered to refer complicated pregnancies to multi-speciality hospitals and promote institutional delivery. The staff have been trained to counsel people for spacing and permanent methods of
contraception. They will also distribute oral contraceptives and emergency contraceptives,” the mayor said.
This apart, special awareness camps about maternal health, personal hygiene, proper nutrition, ill-effects of tobacco, non communicable diseases and diseases control programme, pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques, reproductive tract infection, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and infant and young child feeding will be done on a regular basis.