Govt allocates Rs 209 cr for 1,000 mohalla clinics

On the eve of Diwali, Delhi government on Tuesday decided to provide an allocation of Rs 209 crore for setting-up 1,000 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics in various areas of the national Capital.

The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. Earlier, for this financial year, the government had made a budgetary provision for setting up 500 Mohalla Clinics. A senior government official said the clinic will attend to people living within one kilometre distance and the government hopes that people will not have to walk for more than 10-14 minutes to have access to primary health care.

“The Public Works Department (PWD) has been given the task of setting-up clinics for providing quality public health care to the people of Delhi at their doorstep,” the official said.

According to government, in a paradigm shift, it is reorganising all the health facilities and a four tier structure is being created. “This will consist of mohalla clinics, polyclinics (multi-speciality clinic), multi specialty hospitals (earlier called secondary level hospitals) and Super speciality hospitals (earlier called tertiary level hospitals),” official also said. There will be a medical officer, pharmacist, auxiliary nursing midwife, lab technician and an outsourced security guard in every mohalla clinic. 

It is proposed to provide basic medical care, based on standard treatment protocols. The usual timing will be from 8 am to 2 pm and it is also proposed that some Mohalla Clinics may be run in evening shifts also.