Chennai
According to a senior official, the improvement committee comprises civic body officials, retired experts from State Health Department and NGO members. The committee held its first meeting a few days ago.
“The goal is to double the number of out-patients visiting UPHCs. Even though we have UPHCs across the city, residents crowd tertiary hospitals like Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital and others for minor ailments like fever and cold. This is an unnecessary burden to those facilities,” the official said.
Explaining the rationale behind including members from outside to the improvement committee, the official said that thy would be able to pinpoint the shortcomings in the present system. “We cannot understand the issues without getting views from outside. This is the reason for including members of NGO as a representative of the public,” the official added.
The UPHCs had attended to more than 50 lakh out-patients in 2020, while it was 65 lakh in 2019. The decline in the number of out-patients was attributed to COVID-19, as those with non-critical ailments avoided visiting hospitals. The UPHCs performed 9,864 deliveries in 2020, while it was 10,365 in 2019.
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