Telangana’s Aarogya Mahila scheme under BRS paved way for Sawsth Nari, Sashakt Parivar

Before the Centre launched ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’, Telangana’s ‘Aarogya Mahila’ scheme had already screened over 2.1 lakh women for cancer and other diseases. Though now scrapped, it laid the foundation for women-centric preventive healthcare in India

Hyderabad: While the Centre and the State Government are busy implementing ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’ initiative amid fanfare, it would be remiss not to recognise ‘Aarogya Mahila’ scheme, the landmark women-centric initiative of the previous State government, which actually is the foundational model of ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’.

Even before the planning of ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’ nationwide campaign, way back in March 2023, coinciding with Women’s Day, the then Telangana State Government had launched ‘Aarogya Mahila’ scheme, which was envisaged by former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

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The Aarogya Mahila initiative was comprehensive, and between March and September 2023, a total of 2,11,645 women across the state were screened at 211 exclusive Aarogya Mahila clinics.

More than a year later, having scrapped Aarogya Mahila scheme after coming to power, the present State government has joined hands with the Centre to launch ‘Swasth Nari, Sashakt Parivar’ initiative.

Under Aarogya Mahila, once a day in a week, almost all the government hospitals were dedicated to screening and diagnostics for women. Special outpatient clinics were conducted to diagnose Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension and thyroid issues. Further, basic early diagnostic tests were conducted to identify suspected cases of breast cancer, cervical cancer and oral cancers.

Exclusive outpatient clinics were being operated under the initiative for eight different kinds of tests focused on checking overall health and later referring them to higher healthcare facilities.

Scale of Arogya Mahila clinics: (Between March 2023 and September 2023)

• Number of Arogya Mahila clinics: 272

• Number of women screened: 2,11,745

• Total patient investigations: 51,750

• Cervical cancer exams (VIA): 37,887

• Oral cancer exams: 1,65,748

• Breast cancer exams: 1,63,780

• Screening for micronutrient deficiencies: 75,150

• UTI: 15,051

• Number of thyroid profiles: 27,324

• Women who were referred to higher facilities for cancers: 11,857