The state government is working on a plan to boost healthcare in semi-urban areas to bridge the gap between rural health centres and city hospitals that leads to the rush of patients to Calcutta.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also in-charge of the health department, stressed the need for such a plan on Saturday.
“We need an urban health policy along with rural healthcare. Residents of semi-urban areas don’t get healthcare services from municipal bodies or rural hospitals,” Mamata said at a programme to inaugurate cardiac care and mother and child-care units and a blood bank at Belle Vue Clinic in Calcutta.
“The dearth of healthcare services in semi-urban areas puts pressure on government hospitals in Calcutta. The two children’s hospitals in the city are always flooded with patients,” she added.
The chief minister has instructed the health department to draw up a plan to strengthen the health system in urban and semi-urban areas to reduce the burden on secondary and tertiary-level hospitals, including medical colleges and district hospitals.
Once the plan is implemented, patients in semi-urban areas will get basic but essential treatment locally and will not have to head to the cities. Defunct health centres in small towns will also be reopened under the plan.
“Municipalities look after preventive healthcare (such as vaccination and pre-natal care) in urban and semi-urban areas. A plan is being worked out to strengthen the system,” said Dilip Ghosh, state mission director, National Rural Health Mission, and secretary, health and family welfare department.
“Now, patients from urban areas are forced to visit secondary hospitals (those at the sub-divisional and district level and state general hospitals) even for basic healthcare. This leads to overcrowding of such hospitals, which are actually for curative care,” added Ghosh.
The plan aims to provide more doctors and health workers to the municipal health centres for better management of immunisation and other schemes and more funds to install equipment. It also envisages restructuring of the Calcutta Metropolitan Urban Health Organisation and asking doctors in community medicine departments of medical colleges to monitor the healthcare system.
“One doctor will monitor preventive healthcare for every one lakh people. Also, one health worker, like an auxiliary nurse-cum-midwife, will be assigned for every 30,000 people,” said a health department official.
“The health department will also try to strengthen the infrastructure at the maternity hospitals run by the municipal bodies. Now, even those mothers who are expected to have an uncomplicated delivery are sent to super-speciality hospitals such as RG Kar, which has an overcrowded gynaecology ward,” said an official.
According to health department sources, most of the smaller civic bodies don’t have basic facilities for maternity and child health. “In most civic body-run healthcare units in the semi-urban areas, there are hardly any facilities for ante-natal and post-natal care,” an official said.
For example, Burdwan’s Guskara municipality has only one 10-bed hospital for its population of around two lakh. “There are no basic facilities in this hospital. Even for a normal delivery, a patient is sent to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital,” said Chanchal Garai, the chairman of the municipality.
“Most of the time, basic medicines are not available. We have submitted a proposal to upgrade the hospital to the state general level,” he added.