Going places: Harvard likely to study success story of Delhi’s mohalla clinics

New Delhi: Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health is likely to study the success story of Delhi’s mohalla clinics. It will prepare a case study for teaching the students how the clinics are delivering primary healthcare facilities in the neighbourhood. It will help the students understand how the primary healthcare facilities be diversified to benefit more people.

A memorandum of understanding is likely to be signed between Harvard University and Delhi government soon, said sources.

Apart from preparing a case study, sources said, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health will also study mohalla clinics to explore rooms for improvement. “They will make post-study recommendations for further enhancing the existing healthcare facilities so that people get the best service in these clinics,” said an official.

Delhi has over 300 mohalla clinics, and 150 more clinics are likely to be opened by the year-end. These clinics are in different localities so that people, largely the urban poor, do not need to travel all the way to the government hospitals in case of minor illnesses for quality and free healthcare facilities.

A recent survey by research organisation IDinsight found that around 74% people, who use mohalla clinics, are likely to return to the facility for medical treatment. The survey was conducted to figure out what challenges the programme faces, and what steps are needed to address such challenges before the government scales up the programme.

A total of 97% of mohalla clinic patients stated that they would return for treatment and the facilities were reported as either at par or better than other facilities. Forty per cent of respondents suggested improvements like regular availability of staff, diagnostic tests, medicines, or clinic infrastructure like drinking water and waiting area size.

The survey recommendations included localised awareness campaign, putting location of mohalla clinics on Google Maps and regular monitoring for quality of healthcare and infrastructure.