Telangana Govt’s Arogya Mahila becomes a major public health care initiative

Launched on the occasion of Women’s Day on March 8, the Arogya Mahila initiative till April 21 has screened over 45,000 women for various diseases across Telangana

Hyderabad: The Arogya Mahila initiative of the Telangana government, launched to provide comprehensive health care facilities to women of all age groups every Tuesday at government hospitals, has become a major public health care initiative aimed at identifying cancers among women at an early stage.

In addition to diagnosing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, thyroid etc, the Arogya Mahila initiative has started to play a vital role in conducting preliminary basic early diagnostic tests to identify suspected cases of breast cancer, cervical cancer and oral cancers among women in Telangana.

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Once the initial basic tests are done at the Arogya Mahila camps, the health department officials are referring suspected cases of cancer to Area and District Hospitals and later to tertiary care facilities like OGH and NIMS for further diagnostic tests and eventually treatment. Apart from cancers, the regular weekly health check-up is also enabling public health officials to diagnose Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (POCS), one of the most common endocrine and metabolic disorders for women of reproductive age group, which is characterized by elevated levels of androgen (male hormone) and irregular menstrual periods.

Launched on the occasion of Women’s Day on March 8, the Arogya Mahila initiative till April 21 has screened over 45,000 women for various diseases across Telangana. Based the Arogya Mahila data, over 33,000 women underwent basic clinical breast examinations and nearly 32,000 women were screened for oral cancers and nearly 9,000 women underwent the initial tests related to cervical cancer.

Since the start of the Arogya Mahila drive, so far, a total of 3,568 women have been referred to higher government health care facilities for undergoing further cancer diagnostic tests. Within the same time frame, a total of 666 women have been referred to higher health care facility for undergoing further tests at the District and Area Hospital.

The Arogya Mahila’ scheme, which was initially launched in 100 government hospitals, will be gradually expanded to 1200 health care facilities including Basthi Dawakhanas, PHCs and Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs). As part of the initiative, the State health department is conducting exclusive health camps for women and will offer 57 different types of health care services in government hospitals.