Land identified for 800 mohalla clinics: Jain

NEW DELHI: After issuing notice on the issue of giving land for mohalla clinics, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the central and state governments to explore the possibility of setting up such clinics in every part of the national Capital.

To this end, the Delhi government has identified 800 sites for mohalla clinics across the city, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain said on Thursday while briefing media persons at his office.

Jain expressed his happiness over the Lieutenant Governor's approval to the proposal of mohalla clinics last week, which had been pending since May 2017.

The Delhi government said several free sites in Delhi have been identified for these clinics, for which a proposal for neighbourhood health facility scheme has been approved.

The objective is to make available medical facilities to city's residents at every two kilometres, the Delhi government said.

The mohalla clinics projects had been stalled for a long time, owing to land allotments, as well bureaucratic red-tapism. Initially, Delhi Development Authority was reluctant to allot lands for mohalla clinics.

However, LG Anil Baijal later green lit the project, after directing that conditions laid down by the land owning agencies concerned for land use and construction of any temporary structure must be strictly followed.

''The Health Department shall not transfer, assign or otherwise part with the ownership or possession of the whole or any part of the said land in any manner,'' Baijal stated.

''Further, wherever required, statutory permissions and no objection certificates must be obtained from the local bodies/department concerned,'' said the L-G.

"In the last year, the mohalla or community clinics of Delhi have received a lot of interest. These clinics can arguably be credited to place health higher in the mainstream political discourse.

"In one year of functioning, from 167-odd clinics, an estimated 26 lakh people reportedly availed health services," said Jain.

At a rate of 50-70 patients per day for 25 working days a month at each clinic, the project has fairly performed well in providing healthcare.