Coimbatore: The city is likely to get five new urban primary health centres this year, taking the total number of such healthcare facilities to 37.
The city corporation had recently sent a proposal to the state govt to set up new urban primary health centres at Krishna Avenue near Saravanampatti, Mettur near Podanur, Nehru Nagar West near Kalapatti, Velandipalayam and Saravanampatti.
While the city currently has 32 urban primary health centres, which were established in 2014, city health officer A Mohan said those facilities were not sufficient to meet the needs of the current population. “In the past 10 years, the city’s population has increased to around 19 lakh. For a population of every 50,000, there should be one urban primary health centre. Based on this ratio, we have proposed five new locations. For instance, at Velandipalayam, the population is 85,000. The available urban primary health centres are at Kavundampalayam and Saibaba Colony.”
K Purushothaman, 70, a resident of Velandipalayam, highlighted the hardships faced by the local residents in the absence of an urban primary health centre in their locality. “Wards 42 and 43 lack an urban primary health centre. People have to travel more than two kilometres to reach the nearest facility at Saibaba Colony or Bharathi Park. While there is a wellness centre at Velandipalayam, it does not offer maternity care. Also, there are no injections for dog bites.”
Pointing out that most of the residents in the area belong to below the poverty level, he said they were not in a position to afford private hospitals, even if they were badly ill. “If wards 42 and 43 were to get better public health infrastructure, it will certainly benefit the local residents.”
The civic body is also planning to add additional buildings to the existing urban primary health centres and renovate old buildings. According to an official source, three centres would get new buildings at a cost of Rs1.6 crore each under the National Urban Health Mission, while another six centres would get additional buildings at a cost of Rs60 lakh.
