With the help of mobile clinics donated by the Chinese government, KMC has started to provide primary healthcare services. Compare to the villages, health status of big cities including Kathmandu is very poor. Various independent surveys also show that coverage by any health program in the capital is very low. [break]
“To improve the health status of people living in the slums, we have started to organize health clinics at various locations,” Executive Director of KMC, Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, said.
At the clinics health workers from KMC will provide primary health care. “Slum dwellers are deprived of basic health facilities. Coverage by immunization is also low in those areas,” KMC chief Adhikari added.
Similarly, a significant portion of pregnant women in the slum settlements are deprived of antenatal services. There has been massive migration of the poor to the capital and in their hectic struggle for survival, they remain deprived of basic healthcare facilities.
“We have found pregnant women in the capital who have never had antenatal services," Dr Baburam Gautal, chief of the Health Department at KMC, said adding, “Regular antenatal care is a must to prevent the adverse effects of pregnancy.”
Dozens of children might have missed out on immunization and the mobile health clinics are basically targeted at those populations, KMC said. The incidence of respiratory disease is also high in the cities.
Though there are dozens of big hospitals in the capital, the government does not have any basic level health institutions in the metropolis. The poor cannot afford the services of big hospitals.
KMC said that all services at the clinics are free. Three mobile clinics were deployed on Tuesday also. According to the metropolis, such clinics will be organized on Saturdays and on public holidays. The office said that the frequency of the services can be increased if they turn out to be effective.
“Around 300 people received services from one clinic on Tuesday. Our health workers are also providing information about free health services at the urban health clinics and inviting people to visit there," Dr Gautam added. The District Public Health Office (DPHO) in Kathmandu has provided medicines to the metropolis for that purpose.
KMC chief Adhikari said that the office is working to make available the services of doctors. The office is planning to hire the doctors. “We need at least four doctors and we are trying to find the resources,” Adhikari said.
He said the office has also sought assistance from big hospitals like Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) and Bir. He said that hospital administrations are positive about sending doctors to KMC´s mobile clinics.
Out of five mobile clinics provided by the Chinese government, KMC is using three. The metropolis said that the remaining two will be gifted to the people of landfill sites in Nuwakot and Dhading districts.
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