Mumbai: Now, evening OPDs at dispensaries on civic body's mind

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In a bid to ensure that more people get to avail the OPD services at dispensaries, the BMC is considering starting the same in the evening as well. Civic sources said that as people remain busy with work during the day, they don't get time to go to the morning OPDs, and this also leads to wastage of infrastructure. Taking this into consideration, the public health committee has put forward the recommendation.

Amay Ghole, president of the committee has submitted the proposal, which has been sent to Tata Trust. Speaking to mid-day, he said, "Since the time I became the president, I wanted to implement it. The patients who visit these dispensaries are mostly from the poor economic strata. They are daily wage earners, so can't afford to go to dispensaries in the morning. If we can make OPD functional in the evening then it will be beneficial for thousands of such needy patients," he said.

Currently, OPDs in dispensaries function from 9am to 4.30pm. This is the time when people are mostly busy with their work. This in turn is leading to wastage of infrastructure. It has been highlighted in the past in several occasions that these dispensaries have been lying in dilapidated condition due to shortage of manpower and basic facilities.

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"We have to work towards redeveloping the existing infrastructure. But before that we need to utilise the existing infrastructure and available benefits," he added. The civic body has a total of 127 dispensaries under it and hundreds of patients visit them daily. Speaking about it, health activist Dr Ravikanth Singh appreciated the proposal but also said that there was a need to improve the infrastructure at dispensaries. "The idea of starting evening OPDs is good as it will be beneficial for many patients. But there is need to develop infrastructure without which proper treatment wouldn't be possible," he added.

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