Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has always accorded top priority to the health of the people he rules. The emphasis on health became even more pronounced in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the first wave of which hit the country in March last year. Patnaik took steps to boost heath infrastructure across the state even before a single case of Covid-19 infection was reported from Odisha. District hospitals were upgraded with additional facilities and dedicated Covid hospitals, the first of their kind in the country, were set up in the state. Odisha emerged as a role model in the field of health care. As the state learnt from its experience in dealing with the Covid situation, the government launched special initiatives to protect children and the elderly who constitute the most vulnerable section of the population from the health point of view.
The focus is currently on the senior citizens, with the government reportedly planning to set up one physiotherapy clinic and a mobile medicare unit for them in every district of the state. These facilities will cater to the health needs of people above 60 years living in rural, isolated and backward areas. The project, according to media reports, is being taken up under the State Action Plan for Welfare of Senior Citizens (SAPSrC) to be run by the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) department.
While the physiotherapy clinic component of the project aims at enabling senior citizens to assume an active role in maintaining and improving their own health and encouraging others to do the same, the mobile medicare will focus on elderly people living in areas lacking good healthcare facilities. Agencies with a credible track record of running projects for the welfare of senior citizens will be roped in to manage the physiotherapy clinics.
The best part of the project is that the mobile medicare units will provide not only allopathic but also ayurvedic or homeopathic treatment to senior citizens. These units will reportedly cater to a minimum of 400 persons per month with each mobile team making at least 10 trips per month to the assigned areas. Recognized charitable hospitals, nursing homes or medical institutions will run the clinics.
This is a great health-related initiative of SSEPD department that also envisages creating a pool of trained geriatric caregivers to provide bedside assistance to the needy elderly. Reports suggest that a state-level centre will be set up under the project for imparting necessary training to geriatric caregivers.
The move shows that the government is trying its best to provide quality healthcare to the elderly not only through the direct initiatives of the health department but also through projects conceived and executed by other departments. Senior citizens of the state cannot thank the Chief Minister enough for his concern and the steps he has been taking to keep them healthy.
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