Why in news? 114 ‘Namma Clinics’, urban healthcare and wellness centres, were dedicated to the public from Hubballi by the chief minister.

Highlights:

• services provided in these centres would be upgraded with additional funding to help people of poorer sections avail the best emergency and primary treatments.
• The state government has been taking adequate measures to fortify public health infrastructure by allocating funds and running several healthcare programmes
• In selected 110 taluks, greater emphasis has been given to universal health, woman and child health in particular
• The government is engaged in upgrading taluk hospitals to 100-bed facilities and upgrading the existing 100 primary health centres to community health centres

AYUSHMATI CLINICS FOR  WOMEN

• the government is planning to start Ayushmati Clinics, exclusively for women, by January next year.
• In this clinic all the staff including doctors, nursing staff will be women.
• It will be more helpful in avoiding maternal and infant mortality.

Namma clinics

• These clinics are targeted at providing primary healthcare services to vulnerable sections of the society, especially slum dwellers, daily wage workers, and other economically weaker sections of society
• each clinic will cater to a population of 10,000 to 20,000.
• Twelve types of health services will be available and each clinic will consist of a medical officer, a nurse, lab technician and a Group ‘D’ employee.
• 12 kinds of services include pregnancy, postnatal, neonatal care, childhood and adolescent care, universal immunisation services, family welfare, contraceptive, infectious disease management, common and minor ailment care, diabetes, blood pressure management, chronic diseases, oral ailments, etc.
• Free referrals will also be given to other hospitals for ailments that needs tertiary care such as breast and uterine cancer, eye examination amongst others
• Elderly care, emergency medical services, health check-ups and medicines will be completely free. Fourteen lab tests, tele-consultation services, wellness activities will also be available for free of cost at Namma clinics.
• Treating a disease at the primary level itself will help control it, Namma Clinics would be handy in catering to such needs.