Polyclinics without labs draw few patients

A large number of patients, mostly women and children, waited for their turn at the pharmacy counter of a newly-opened Aam Aadmi Polyclinic at Kalyanvas in east Delhi. At about 1 pm, it was the busiest section in the facility offering specialised care in eight different areas, including gynaecology, paediatrics and medicine.

Part of three-tier healthcare structure in the city, the clinic was set up inside a large housing complex to take some load off the neighbouring multi-speciality Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Khichripur. However, due to delays in procurement of X-ray and ultrasound machines, the polyclinic manages to draw no more than 300 patients a day.

L.B.S. Hospital’s outpatient department caters to 10 times more patients each day, according to its medical superintendent Dr Amita Saxena. She said three more polyclinics are proposed to be set up in nearby Kondli, Vasundhara Enclave and Shakarpur.

Twenty-two of the planned 150 polyclinics are now operational and by the end of this year, the city government claims it will set up the remaining 128 clinics.

The Delhi government’s healthcare roadmap works on the primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare model. For primary healthcare like basic consultation and medicines, there are mohalla clinics. For specialist care and a wider spectrum of diagnostics, there are polyclinics. The patients requiring surgery or hospitalisation are referred to the final tier — government-run hospitals.

“Medicines are available between 8.30 am and 3.30 pm. Generally, there is more rush during the morning hours,” Manju, a resident of East Vinod Nagar, told this newspaper. She was waiting at the pharmacy counter along with some of her neighbours. According to the polyclinic, it receives patients from various parts of east Delhi.

The polyclinic at Kalyanvas has come as a replacement for the Delhi government dispensary which has been defunct for last five years. Mohan Singh Gahlot, president of the Kalyanvas Resident Welfare Association, said, “The dispensary operated from a run-down PWD office.”

“The Aam Aadmi Polyclinic was set up early this year after consistent demands for revival of the dispensary. But it is a polyclinic in name only, as it doesn’t offer promised facilities. All lab tests are done at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. Only test samples are collected here,” he said.

Specialist doctors for the polyclinic are outsourced from the L.B.S. Hospital too. The polyclinic offers free OPDs services only twice or thrice a week.

Explaining the delay in procurement of lab equipment, Dr Puneeta Mahajan of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, said the city government has floated a tender for bulk procurement of polyclinic lab equipment. The Ambedkar Hospital runs two polyclinics, which get 300-400 patients a day each.

Dr Mahajan said the benefits of the polyclinics will manifest when more such facilities come up across the city. The AAP government hopes after the planned 150 polyclinics and 1,000 mohalla clinics by the year-end, fewer patients will prefer to visit tertiary care (hospitals).