THREE-MONTH pregnant Sana Raju Sheikh, 28, heaved a sigh of relief with the opening of Hinduhridayasamrat Balasaheb Thackeray (HBT) polyclinic and diagnostic centre in her neighbourhood in Chougule, Borivali, as it saved her the hassle of travelling to the centre at Carter Road five kilometres away. "At the centre, the gynecologist on duty prescribed some blood tests for which I wasn't charged anything," said Sheikh. She is just one of the 80 patients that visit the Chougule polyclinic alone on a daily basis. This first of its kind initiative by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under HBT health centre scheme has 13 such polyclinic-diagnostic centres that run till 4 pm. These centres have specialist doctors available on a weekly basis. Also, 28 HBT clinics have been started to serve patients in the evening at dispensaries that so far remained open till noon. BMC has started nine Porta clinics in around 600 sq feet area across slums. "It is difficult to find 600-1,000 sq ft space for Porta clinics. Considering the rising footfall, we have decided to start smaller clinics, especially in slums like Dharavi,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer.0 Started on October 2, these centres have got positive response. At Kumbharwada polyclinic, a dispensary revamped into a clinic in Dharavi, there is a daily footfall of over 120 patients. Except Sundays, the centre has a dentist available from 9 am to 1 pm apart from specialists coming in once a week. Dr Swami Rao, a paediatrician who visits the centre on Tuesdays, said he gets around 20 patients. As the slum has a huge burden of Tuberculosis, the clinic has also started a separate TB centre to attend to those patients. Mumbai, with a population above 2 crore, mainly relies on four major civic-run tertiary-care hospitals—KEM, Sion, Nair and Cooper. Thus, the idea behind these centres is to decentralise the health infrastructure, and provide primary health care close by. The specialists are paid patient-wise. For each visit, they get Rs 1,500. When they treat over five patients, they get Rs 250 for each patient. So, on an average, they earn around Rs 4,000 per visit. The centres also provide 139 blood tests for free. Sadhana Yadav, a slum dweller of Dr Ambedkar Road in Khar complained of fatigue, palpitation, nausea, and weight loss at Gurunanak polyclinic, Khar. The doctor prescribed several tests. These tests, which Yadav got done for free, would have cost her at least Rs 4,000 at a private diagnostic centre. While BMC plans to hire more specialists, Dr Gomare said, "We will appoint doctors who would be able to treat patients facing regular ailments and refer them to specialists, if need be." In the 2022-23 BMC budget, Rs 400 crore was allotted for 200 HBT centres. In September, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced 50 such centres in the first phase. The BMC has also recently floated a tender inviting private diagnostic centres to offer their service. Soon, 12 diagnostic tests, such as X-ray, CT scan, MRI, ECG, and ultrasonography would be available at these centres at a nominal price. However, certain issues have been flagged, such as, unavailability of medicines and defective machines. “Gradually, all these issues would be addressed. Our primary focus is to start the centres," said Dr Gomare.
