This mth, 11 new centres to bring free medical care closer to you

Gurgaon: By the end of this month, the city will have its first batch of clinics that will allow hundreds to get doctors’ consultation, diagnosis, basic medical treatment and even yoga classes free of cost, not too far from their localities.
By March, the number of government-run clinics — called urban Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) — will go up to 40, Gurgaon’s health department officials said on Tuesday.
The first eleven spots earmarked for the clinics in the city are: Firoz Gandhi Colony-ll, Basai, Dundahera, Sarhaul, Bhim Nagar, Ghasola village, and sectors 10, 27, 38, 56 and 47.
These healthcare centres are part of the central government’s 2018 initiative and will be operated by district authorities
The objective, officials said, is to give easy access to healthcare facilities to the vulnerable groups at their doorstep. These clinics will also help decongest OPDs at government-run hospitals, which are often the only option for many who can’t afford steep treatment costs at private facilities.
“We have got the approval to open 11 HWCs in the city. These will be functional by January-end, and we aim to open a total of 40 such centres by March-end. These centers will increase access to specialist services and also minimise out-of-pocket expenditure,” said Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
Each centre, its location chosen for its proximity with residential clusters, will cater to a population of around 15,000 to 20,000.
These clinics with at least 3-4 rooms will have five staffers each — a medical officer, two multi-purpose workers (male and female), one ASHA (accredited social health activist) worker and one cleaning staff.
Among the facilities provided at these centres, there will be clinical consultation, tests and diagnosis , specialist services such as (medicine, obstetrics & gynaecology, paediatrics, ophthalmology, dermatology), tele-consultation, counseling for family planning and referral to secondary/tertiary healthcare centres.
The HWCs will also be involved in disease surveillance, outbreak management, vaccination programmes, and community outreach initiatives. Apart from that, they will encourage a focus on wellbeing by offering ten yoga classes a month.
The initiative, since it was launched by the Centre in 2018, has been implemented across the country. So far, there are 1.5 lakh such centres across India, including 2,000-odd primary healthcare centres that were converted into HWCs in rural areas of Haryana (Gurgaon did not have any HWC).
When asked why it has taken over four years to start HWCs in the NCR city, Gurgaon MLA Sudhir Singla said that the importance of primary healthcare centres was realised during the peak pandemic period.
“Although we have health centres in Gurgaon, we planned to bring them closer to people’s homes. They can get easy access to healthcare services, which are affordable,” Singla said.
The legislator also said these HWCs were not modeled on Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics, an initiative by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government that has found substantial success in the capital city.
“We are not following the AAP model. This is an idea by the central government and it aims to ensure that the healthcare system reaches everyone’s doorstep,” the BJP MLA said.