In yet another first of its kind initiative in the country, the Telangana state government has embarked on launching Basti Dawakhanas (Urban Clinics) to provide best of the best quality healthcare to the slum dwellers in the urban areas of Hyderabad.

To begin with, the Telangana health department has decided to construct 40 Basti Dawakhanas of which 17 have been completed and formally launched across various slums in and around Hyderabad. According to Dr C Laxma Reddy, minister for health and family welfare, the Basti Dawakhanas are exclusively designed to cater to the healthcare needs of the urban poor. “Basti Dawakhana is a new and innovative concept initiated by the state government of Telangana. In fact this concept is the first of its kind initiative launched by any state government in India. The main objective behind launching this kind of Urban Clinics is to bring access to highest quality healthcare to the poorest of the poor living in the urban areas. Initially, we have decided to construct 40 clinics of them 17 have been completed and launched in Hyderabad,” informed Dr C Laxma Reddy.

Through these Basti Clinics, the state government is providing basic clinical outpatient services and in the course of time the government is also planning to build the referral linkage between Urban Primary Health centres and other major health facilities in the state. While launching first of its kind Basti Dawakhanas at BJR Nagar, K Taraka Rama Rao, and minister for MAUD said, “The state government of Telangana is giving higest priority to pharma and healthcare sectors. Particularly the Urban poor are not having proper access to quality healthcare. For them the state government is planning to set up at least 1,000 Basti Dawakhanas to cater to the requirements of every 10,000 Basti Population living in the slums.”

At present the Basti Clinics are run by Municipal Administration and Urban Development and Health Departments. The MAUD will provide building infrastructure, while the health department takes care of providing medicines, treatment, manpower and other aspects.

According to a survey conducted by Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) there are more than 1,450 slums of them 986 are notified and 465 are non-notified. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has 145 approved Urban PHCs, out of which 112 are functioning while remaining are left defunct. In view of this, the TS government has decided to build 40 more Urban Clinics to the slum dwellers and enable them get better access to quality healthcare for free of cost.