Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami launched the ‘Amma Mini Clinic’ scheme, aimed at giving a leg-up to public health infrastructure, and inaugurated three such facilities here on Monday. As many as 2,000 clinics are set to become functional soon across Tamil Nadu, providing access to a medical doctor for consultation on common ailments like fever.
The clinics, which would store medicine and minor surgical equipment, are located in areas where poor people live in large numbers and those without Primary Health Centres (PHCs). Inaugurating the clinics at three different locations in the city, Palaniswami said a doctor, nurse and a health assistant would be available in each clinic.
Billing the initiative as historic, the Chief Minister said the areas chosen for the facilities are predominantly inhabited by the poor. The aim is to see that the ordinary people are not burdened by having to shell out a few hundreds when they visit private hospitals or clinics for consultation on their ailments, he said.
An official said all the 2,000 clinics would become operational across Tamil Nadu in about two to three weeks from now and the Chief Minister is likely to inaugurate similar facilities in Salem in a couple of days. Ministers and district officials would be inaugurating such facilities in their respective regions, he said.
“Before inauguration, we want to ensure that local people are aware of the presence of such facilities so that they could use them. In Chennai, 47 clinics are being operationalised out of the proposed 200 clinics.” Asked on the funding for the scheme, he said the initial sanction was for Rs 20 crore (Rs one lakh per clinic for 2,000 clinics) and fund from those like the National Health Mission may also be used to the extent permissible under goverment rules. The clinics shall function for four hours in the morning and for the same duration in the evening in corporation areas.
In rural and town panchayats, the clinics shall work from 8 am to noon and from 4 pm to 7 pm. For all the clinics, Saturday would be the weekly holiday. Drugs for the clinics would be procured from the state run TN Medical Servicees Corporation.
Criteria to locate the mini clinics include clusters of construction labourers including guest workers, areas without PHCs or government hospitals and any area from where time taken to reach a government health facility is more than one hour. On September 8, Palaniswami had announced that 2,000 mini clinics would be set up in both rural and urban areas to provide quick and easy access to primary health care services to the poor people in Tamil Nadu.
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