Telangana health dept to launch 41 more Basthi Dawakhanas in Hyderabad by December

On an average, each Basthi Dawakhana caters to at least 5,000 to 10,000 individuals and provides free doctor consultation, free diagnostic tests and medicines. -Photo: Anand Dharmana

Hyderabad: Continuing its efforts to make quality healthcare services accessible to the urban poor, the State health department is on target to launch 41 more Basthi Dawakhanas in Hyderabad by this December.

The 41 additional Basthi Dawakhanas, which will take the total number of such facilities to nearly 300 in Hyderabad, are part of the overall plan of the State government to launch at least 288 such facilities in 141 municipalities across Telangana in the next few years.

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The Basthi Dawakhanas concept has been developed on the lines of low cost urban health clinics that are focused on providing free quality healthcare and diagnostic services to the urban poor, especially daily wagers, migrant workers and their families. Since the launch of the first such facility in 2018-19, the response to Basthi Dawakhanas in Hyderabad has been quite encouraging, prompting the health department to continue adding more not only in Hyderabad but also in districts, albeit in the form of Palle Dawakhanas.

In a recent review meeting, Health Minister T Harish Rao said that by December 31, the Health department will be able to add 41 more Basthi Dawakhans in areas under GHMC. The Minister also pointed out that the 13 more T-Diagnostic central hubs, which support Basthi and Palle Dawakhanas in Telangana, will also get ready in the next few months.

Typically, a Basthi Dawakhana is located very near to a slum settlement, which cuts down the travelling time for the local population, a major reason why they are very popular in Hyderabad. On an average, each facility caters to at least 5,000 to 10,000 individuals and provides free doctor consultation, free diagnostic tests and medicines.

Almost all the Basthi Dawakhanas in Telangana are linked, in a hub-and-spoke model to T-Diagnostics central laboratory hubs, which receive the patient blood samples for testing. In Hyderabad, the central T-Diagnostic hub is located at Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM), Narayanguda, which recently received NABL accreditation.

To further strengthen diagnostics in government hospitals, the State government is in the process of establishing 13 more T-Diagnostic Central labs in Telangana. Already, there are 20 such T-Diagnostic central hubs, which have provided their services to 36 lakh patients and have conducted 6.5 crore tests, between 2017 and October, 2022.