Mandaviya vows to prepare three-layered healthcare infra for Char Dham yatris

New Delhi: Gearing up for Cham Dham yatra preparations, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday chaired a meeting with Uttarakhand government over healthcare arrangement for the pilgrims embarking on Cham Dham yatra.

The government will soon create a strong health support and emergency management infrastructure for the pilgrims of Cham Dham yatra, Mandaviya said after a meeting with Uttarakhand’s health minister Dhan Singh Rawat on Monday. “This will be three-layered structure to ensure that the pilgrims are provided for during their journey from medical point of view,” Mandaviya said.

The minister further informed that a strong network of advance ambulances and stroke vans is being planned to ensure that stroke management and treatment can start on the way to a health facility. These ambulances will be stationed at different points on the yatra route, he added.

“PG students from medical colleges from across the country are proposed to be deployed as part of strengthened healthcare infrastructure. They will act as first responders. This experience will also act as a skilling and capacity building exercise for the PG students,” Mandaviya elaborated.

In addition to this, drones will be used to provide emergency medicines in the higher locales of the yatra. Drones have been successfully used for transportation of COVID19 vaccines in the north eastern region recently. Recently, AIIMS-Rishikesh has started a drone service to deliver and pick medicines. “A strong referral back-end system is being developed with AIIMS Rishikesh, Doon Medical College and Srinagar Medical Colleges acting as tertiary nodes for specialist care. This shall provide an end-to-end clinical treatment for pilgrims’ health,” Mandaviya said.

All these measures would also be supported with citizen-friendly communication and awareness activities such as website/portals to inform pilgrims of weather conditions, importance of acclimatization, location of health facilities on the way, call centre numbers, pre-yatra screening, emergency support numbers, etc.