Basthi Dawakhanas ease burden on tertiary hospitals: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: The Basthi Dawakhanas, which have been established to make quality healthcare facilities accessible to the urban poor, have resulted in a significant drop in the inflow of outpatients at major tertiary super-speciality hospitals in Hyderabad. The drop in outpatient patient footfall is an encouraging sign as it indicates that Basthi Dawakhanas have fulfilled the […]

Hyderabad: The Basthi Dawakhanas, which have been established to make quality healthcare facilities accessible to the urban poor, have resulted in a significant drop in the inflow of outpatients at major tertiary super-speciality hospitals in Hyderabad.

The drop in outpatient patient footfall is an encouraging sign as it indicates that Basthi Dawakhanas have fulfilled the mandate of ensuring that quality basic healthcare services are available to the economically weaker sections in urban slum settlements and reducing the load on super-speciality government hospitals.

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Over the last few years, all major tertiary hospitals in Hyderabad, including Osmania General Hospital (OGH), Gandhi Hospital, Fever Hospital and Niloufer Hospital, have registered a significant drop in the inflow of patients in their OPs.

The Telangana government has established a total of 331 Basthi Dawakhanas in areas falling under various municipalities, of which there are over 200 such facilities in areas under the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). In the last two years, the Basthi Dawakhanas have provided services to nearly 2.1 crore patients, which also includes repeat visits made by individual patients.

“Due to the success of Basthi Dawakhanas, the Chief Minister has directed us to increase such facilities to 500. By December-January, we aim to add at least 100 more Basthi Dawakhanas in Telangana. The facilities have reduced the burden on tertiary hospitals, which are now focusing on handling more complex ailments,” Health Minister T Harish Rao said on Friday.

Due to the success of Basthi Dawakhanas in Hyderabad, similar facilities were coming up in other municipalities of Warangal, Nizamabad, Ramagundam and Mahabubnagar, among others. “It is clear that Basthi Dawakhanas are able to provide quality healthcare to patients suffering from minor ailments. This has given a lot of breathing space to tertiary teaching hospitals, which have now started to focus on conducting complex surgeries,” Harish said.