The COVID-19 outbreak has exposed chinks in the public healthcare system in the city. The civic body is now trying to improve healthcare facilities that it manages, starting with oxygenated beds and CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines being made available.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has 85 Urban Public Health Centres, 26 maternity hospitals and six referral hospitals. Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad even admitted that the civic body had ignored investing and improving public health infrastructure for many years.
BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Health) D. Randeep said it was planning to have at least one oxygenated bed and CPAP machine in each of the PHCs. This was especially important, given that during the pandemic, many patients with complaints of breathlessness are rushed to the PHCs and other healthcare facilities. “The objective is that our facilities become self-sufficient and are able to provide critical healthcare at the time of need, ensuring that citizens don’t have to depend on private hospitals or nursing homes,” he said.
Mr. Randeep also said that following improvement, the PHCs may function round-the-clock. “We will depute a staff nurse, who is trained to operate the equipment, and a security personnel,” he added. While each PHC will have an oxygenated bed, the number of such beds in each of the referral and maternity hospitals will be decided based on the availability of space, he said and added that the civic body would be spending nearly ₹5 crore on this.
Following the outbreak, the State government decided to handover 56 PHCs that were under the jurisdiction of Bengaluru Urban district to the BBMP. These 56 PHCs were technically within the BBMP limits, as they were located in the five outer zones. The government has also handed over an additional 40 PHCs that are located in the five taluks falling under Bengaluru Urban district.
More PHCs
The BBMP now wants to establish 57 more PHCs in the city to ensure that there is one PHC in each of the 198 wards in the city. “While 85 PHCs that were originally under BBMP were in the three core zones, 56 were in the five outer zones. There still are 57 wards without a PHC,” Mr. Randeep explained.
He said that health officials in these wards had been directed to identify buildings where the PHC could be established.