Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami made the announcement on Tuesday.
If things go as planned, Tamil Nadu will soon have around 2000 mini clinics across the state to cater to basic health issues of the population. In a time when hospitals and secondary healthcare facilities are refusing to treat people with ailments other than COVID-19, the mini clinics will cater to residents with common health issues like fever and headache.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Tuesday, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “When people get fever, headache or any other disease, they are not able to get treatment. This was brought to the government’s attention and hence to treat such people, our government will set up a miniclinic.
These miniclinics will reportedly be established in areas that are far away from the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC). These clinics will have one doctor, a nurse and a health assistant in each clinic.
Speaking to TNM about the mini clinics, J Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary to the government, Department of Health and Family Welfare said that the plan is to create 2000 such clinics initially. “The idea is to put in medical infrastructure in place in unserved areas which are not yet population-wise qualified to have a dedicated Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) but have demonstrated a felt need for one on the ground,” he explained.
In Tamil Nadu, one PHC is sanctioned for every 30,000 persons. Mini clinics aim to bridge this gap in healthcare facilities for places with less 30,000 residents.
Stating that these clinics will be set up at the earliest, Radhakrishnan said that the success of the fever clinics set up during COVID-19 pandemic at the ward levels gave the push to decide on mini clinics. “We are expecting it to be a permanent set-up to our health infrastructure, similar to the health and wellness centre model under the National Health Mission,” he added.
Welcoming the decision, Dr CN Raja, President of the Indian Medical Association, Tamil Nadu chapter, said that it would be better if the clinics were designed to function in a more inclusive manner. “We are in a pandemic and we know that we are dealing with a very big challenge. We do not know whether a patient has COVID-19 or not without diagnosing him or her. Only after examination and testing, we will be able to know that,” he said, adding that these clinics must be equipped well with Personal Protective Equipment kits needed to safeguard doctors and other healthcare professionals working there.
“We know that the number of new COVID-19 cases are bound to increase in the coming days because of the relaxation in unlocking. That is one of the reasons why the government wants to increase the number of clinics,” he added. He also pointed out that such clinics can also be used as a psycho-social support centre at the local level for those in need.
Source: The News Minute