Gujarat Government has announced launching of Deendayal Clinics in for urban poor residing in densely populated areas, slums of urban and semi-urban areas.
The announcement comes even as urban local body elections are to be held in six municipal corporations and 55 municipalities of the state in February next year.
The ‘Deendayal’ clinics will be started on priority in areas which are thickly populated. The state health department, municipal corporations and municipalities have been directed to shortlist such localities, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said on Sunday. “MBBS or AYUSH doctors will treat OPD patients and give medicines free of cost between 4pm and 6 pm every day,” Patel said after visiting Ramdev Pir Tekra locality in Ahmedabad on Sunday. “More than five ‘Deendayal’ clinics will be started in the locality of Ramdev Pir Tekra in Ahmedabad which has a population of around 30,000,” he said.
Patel said the Deendayal Clinics scheme was announced in the state budget for 2020-21, but could not be implemented because the entire health department machinery has been engaged in fighting the pandemic since March. “The ‘Deendayal Yojana’ is a permanent scheme of the state government which will help poor people get treatment near their houses”, Deputy CM Nitin Patel said.
