CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to launch Family Doctor concept today

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will formally launch Family Doctor programme at Lingamguntla village of Palnadu district on Thursday, April 6.

As per schedule, the Chief Minister will reach Lingamguntla at 10 am and inspect YSR Village Health Clinic and family physician concept stalls. Later, He will address a public meeting at Kavuru village and return to CM camp office at Tadepalli at 12.30 pm.

As many as 69,64,383 people availed services under Family Doctor programme at their own villages so far. Of them, 25,80,599 were outpatient services, 4,03,500 were antenatal, 2,20,835 were postnatal, 15,79,962 were diabetes services,20,98,028 were hypertension related and 33,635 services were of cancer care.

Medical and health principal secretary MT Krishna Babu in a statement on Wednesday said the state government had initiated Family Doctor programme in order to strengthen the health services at village level and to focus on preventive health. The programme was soft-launched on October 21, 2022.

According to the principal secretary, each primary health centre was provided with two doctors, one for taking care of OP at the PHC and the other for visiting mapped village health clinics in 104 mobile medical units (MMU) twice a month as per pre fixed schedule on rotation basis.

"Each doctor is mapped to a maximum of 6-7 villages and visits the same village health clinics (VHCs) every month. The doctor is given a mobile phone with a fixed number. The mobile number is displayed in all the village health clinics and secretariats. This will create bonding between the doctor and people of the villages mapped to the doctor," he informed.

He said that the family doctor and the team would provide services in the village from 9 am to 4 pm. The family doctor covers general OP, NCD (non-communicable diseases)management, antenatal care for pregnant women, postnatal case for mothers and newborn babies, children, anaemia monitoring, home visits to bed-ridden patients and monitoring village sanitation in coordination with village secretary, he added.

Krishna Babu further said that the family doctor along with the health team visits anganwadi centres to conduct antenatal and postnatal checkups and ensure provision of good quality food to the pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.

It would help increase awareness about taking good nutrition and precautions in case of high-risk pregnancies, he added. He further said that the primary objective of family doctor programmeis to ensure delivery of preventive health services to the people in their village only without need to go to PHC or other higher facility.

This will reduce out of pocket expenditure and effective follow up is done on continuance of medication in proven NCD cases to ensure the condition will not deteriorate to serious health ailment, Krishna Babu said.