Chandigarh dispensaries set to have OPDs in morning, evening

CHANDIGARH: City dispensaries will have two OPDs in the morning and evening, as recommended by the administrative advisory council, UT. According to sources, double timings will be implemented soon. These dispensaries will be handed over from the municipal corporation (MC) to the UT health department next month.

Presently, only Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16, has two timings for the OPDs. Many years back, PGI had planned to start evening OPDs but the move was rejected following opposition from the faculty.

This is not feasible for tertiary care centres, said Dr G Dewan, director, health services, “We can’t reduce tertiary care centres to the level of primary health centres. All the dispensaries are now restructured as health and wellness centres. Such centres are at the level of primary healthcare centre where many patients visit daily,” he said.

There are 26 dispensaries in urban sectors and eight in rural sector of the city. Around 8,000 OPD patients daily visit the dispensaries and civil hospitals. “These dispensaries cater to the poor patients and most of them are labourers. They are unable to come in the morning due to work and often miss the OPDs,” said Dr Dewan.

These health and wellness centres have allopathic and Ayush doctors posted for integrative health care. “We are utilizing the services of the doctors under the National Health Mission programme,” said the DHS.

The GMSH-16 has been running the evening OPDs since 2015. “Even if we do not run the OPDs in the evening, our doctors are available round-the-clock in the emergency. But the services are mostly required in dispensaries,” the DHS said.