Healthcare

STRENGTHENING BASIC HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

Though the Government has set up Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres to cover the entire population of the country, facilities at these centres are highly stretched. Adequate resources are generally not available at these centres to cater to the needs of the people. While private entrepreneurs do set up various types of healthcare facilities in urban areas, there are major gaps in rural and semi urban areas, where industries can contribute. Jubilant’s healthcare interventions are aimed to fill these gaps and comprise-

The Sarvajanik Medical Centre (SMC) at Gajraula, set up in 1980s in association with the Sarvajanik Medical Trust, has developed a high level of credibility with the community around due to the dedicated service provided by the centre, due to the dedicated service provided by the centre, that includes:

On an average, about 150 patients are examined and provided with medicines daily at the SMC which operates six days in a week, making it approximately 50,000 beneficiaries a year. The SMC caters to villages located within about 20 kms from the centre covering a population of about 2.0 lacs. The centre also has facilities to provide day care services to 8 patients. A token charge of Rs.5/- is collected from individuals utilizing OPD facilities including medicine. This is collected primarily with a view that the patients would value the medicines being received and take care in observing the instructions of the doctor. The centre is managed by a qualified and experienced doctor and paramedical staff. JBF has plans to upgrade the facilities by setting up a new well equipped Community Health Centre (CHC) with better facilities. At Nira and Samlaya, regular medical clinics are operated by JBF at nearby villages providing basic medication and referral services.

The Foundation also collaborates with leading hospitals to organise medical camps and in-patient services for specific purposes at all locations in association with various Govt. and Non-Govt. agencies.

JBF has started an Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre (ICTC) for HIV/AIDS in association with UP State AIDS Control Society (UPSACS) at Gajraula. It has a tie up with the Anti Retroviral Treatment Centre at the Medical College in nearby town of Meerut, where the patients found positive are referred. Qualified Doctor, counselors and Laboratory technicians operate this centre. The DOTS centre at Gajraula was started in 2005. The centre has diagnosed and treated more than 4000 patients. The special feature of Jubilant DOTS centre has been the dedicated services of its DOTS providers in following up all positive cases and ensuring full treatment. To old and infirm patients who find it difficult to come to the centre, medicines are provided at their home by trained community workers. This ensures better compliance by this vulnerable group. The State Govt., appreciating the services rendered, elevated the centre to the level of a ‘referral centre’ in the region for microscopic testing of TB.

'Nirog Bachpan' is an initiative which aims at nurturing the children through developing a system of preventive health care and proper monitoring of their health status in the ‘Muskan’ schools. Under the project, every child is given a health card and checked regularly, once a year. Counseling, wherever necessary, is done to the parents to take care of any health problems detected. In deserving and needy cases, nutritional supplement is also provided by the Foundation.

Care for Mother and Child Health (MCH) is fundamental to creating a healthy society. The state of affairs in Maternal and Child Health is incredibly shocking as more than 80,000 mothers die every year in India due to child birth and delivery related complications.

In India, the Government has launched a series of policies, programmes and healthcare services to address the Mother and Child Healthcare demands.

However, in a country of India’s size, gaps still remain.

Considering the fact that the facilities and the resources are highly stretched, the delivery mechanism has been at the receiving end because of the following reasons:

At the core of the problem lie inadequate awareness amongst the community and lack of coordination in various service providers. With an objective to fill these gaps, JBF has initiated a unique community based pilot healthcare project named ‘Swasthya Prahari’ in Public-Private-People Partnership (4P) model. Instead of reinventing any new system, this project is aimed at strengthening Government’s efforts with more effective community participation for improved services. The project is proposed to be completed in four stages -

Expected outcome of the project include limiting population growth, reducing Infant & Maternal Mortality Rates (IMR & MMR), providing better health services during antenatal and postnatal period and reducing the incidence of HIV/AIDS/STDs/RTI among the target population.

The project covers a population of 1,00,000 around Gajraula in UP and is for three year duration so that people get accustomed to the system ensuring its sustainability. The health authorities have been taken into confidence and a Memorandum of Cooperation has been signed with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the State Health Department. Broad activities under the project include -