Healthcare services at the doorstep for the elderly and implementation of the One Health model in disease control in Rayamangalam panchayat in Ernakulam have won praise. The local body came first in the ‘Ardhrakeralam’ Awards instituted by the Department of Health at the district-level for its initiatives implemented in the 2022-23 fiscal.
The ‘mobile hospital’ concept was instrumental in extending basic medical care to senior citizens after its launch following the COVID-19 pandemic. “The mobile hospital project has brought solace to the elderly, who were finding it difficult to reach the panchayat building or access its healthcare facilities owing to physical ailments and the time taken to travel to the centres. We launched the project by using the ambulance that was deployed for extending palliative care and later shifted to a vehicle exclusively for the initiative,” said panchayat president N.P. Ajayakumar.
Over these two years, the mobile health unit has reached out to senior citizens across 20 wards in the panchayat. Health check-up is mostly arranged at anganwadis in each ward. “The facility, which is managed by a doctor and a nurse, reaches out to an average of 70 persons daily. Senior citizens in each ward are aware of the schedule of the mobile unit as it visits them every two weeks,” said Mr. Ajayakumar.
The panchayat has adopted an interdisciplinary approach in disease control aimed at checking zoonotic threats. It has brought together Ayurveda-Allopathy-Homoeo streams along with the departments of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry while formulating disease-control programmes at the ward-level. The authorities said the approach had been effective in the diagnosis and control of zoonotic diseases.
