32 more basti dawakhanas to come up in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will open 32 more basti dawakhanas in addition to 226 such hospitals for extending medicare to the general public in twin cities.

With treatment becoming an expensive affair, more and more poorer people are visiting these dawakhanas, which are generally located in community halls or government buildings.

Basti dawakhanas are an initiative of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who wanted at least 350 such hospitals in the twin cities, particularly where a substantial number of scheduled castes and tribes, minorities and other poor live. Basti dawakhanas are a joint endeavour of GHMC and union government, which has allotted ₹ 1,200 crore under Ayushman Bharat programme. The intent of this initiative is to establish health centres in areas that lack urban primary health centres (UPHCs) and reduce burden on tertiary hospitals, such as Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi Hospital, Niloufer and UPHCs.

Each of these basti dawakhanas has a doctor, ASHA workers and an auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), with referral power to any city hospital, an official said. Each clinic is located in minimum 350 sq ft to maximum of 500 sq ft area.

Salaries of dawakhana staff are paid under National Urban Health Mission (NUHM). The official expressed confidence that with opening of new dawakhanas, the city will have 300 such clinics within a month.

The new basti dawakhanas will be coming up at Konain Masjid (Fatehshah Nagar), Riyasath Nagar Community Hall, Majid-e-Omer Farooq near Classic Garden Function Hall, Achireddy Nagar Community Hall, Chiragali Nagar Community Hall, Devdaspura Community Hall behind Golkonda,  Owaisi Community Hall (Reshambagh), Jalalkuncha Community Hall near Purnapul Ward Office, Bhag-e-Jhara Community Hall, Government Girls Primary School, Murthuzanagar, Mahabharathnagar Community Hall, Rajeev Gandhi Nagar Community Hall, Singadi Basti Community Hall, Chandrakiran Basti Community Hall, Dhoolpet, Zakir Hussain Community Hall, Yousufguda Community Hall, Hamali Basti Community Hall, Annapurna Colony, Nacharam, Community Hall near Ramalayam in Beerapadda, ZPHS High School, Ramanthapur, Shantiniketan Colony Community Hall, Old Bowenpally Ward Office, Ferozguda Ward Office, NLB Nagar Community Hall, Apuroopa Colony Community Hall, near Hanuman Temple, Kowkoor Main Road, Gokul Nagar Park, Checkpost Community Hall, Yapral, Raja Srinivas Nagar Community Hall, Old Mirzalguda, Hydernagar Ward Office, Nehru Nagar Community Hall, Muslim Basti and Pappireddy Community Hall.