Delhi government to open mohalla clinics at 4 major night shelters

In a unique initiative as part of its winter action plan, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Tuesday announced to open mohalla clinics at four major night shelters in the national Capital before November 25. 

The mohalla clinics will be opened at night shelters located at Yamuna Pushta in East Delhi, Jama Masjid in Central Delhi, Sarai Kale Khan in South Delhi and Shakur Basti in North Delhi, said a senior officer.  

The decision was taken at a review meeting on mohalla clinics, headed by Health minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

“In the meeting, Jain ordered the concerned agencies to deal with the issue on priority basis and open the mohalla clinics before November 25,” he added. 

The official said that every year hundreds of destitutes living at night shelters or on the road sides die from cold or other diseases due to lack of proper medical facility. 

“With mohalla clinics being set up at these night shelters, the destitutes, especially during winters, would be able to get proper and timely treatment,” Prakash said. 

The four places also have slum clusters. The clinics would benefit the persons living in the night shelters as well as the slum dwellers. He further added that automatic medicine vending machines have been opened at nine more mohalla clinics, taking the number of medicine ATMs to 10 in the city.

Currently, there are over 107 such clinics in Delhi, wherein, as many as 14,78,695 patients have been treated. The government has set a target of constructing 1,000 more clinics by the end of the year. 

In January, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that medicines will be made available free of cost in Delhi hospitals and healthcare centres. 

“In September, the average number of patients visiting these mohalla clinics was 141 patients per day per mohalla clinic. As many as 6,915 lab tests were also conducted in all the mohalla clinics till now,” the Health minister said. 

Under the project, medical equipment and the pharmacy were arranged for by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and district health officials respectively. 

The mohalla clinic and medicine ATM projects of the Delhi government has received applause in various national and international forums and several state governments are planning to implement to provide free health services to the people.