Bengaluru: A five-year-old girl in Karnataka has tested positive for Zika virus. She has been advised to take precautionary measures under medical supervision, said the state health minister K Sudhakar on Monday.
“According to a Pune lab report, a 5-year-old girl in Karnataka was found positive for the Zika virus. This is the first case in the state and the government is monitoring the situation very carefully. Our department is well prepared to handle it,” the minister claimed.
He also announced that 114 ‘Namma clinics’ across the state will be inaugurated on Wednesday. Initially the government had planned to launch 438 Namma clinics by December. The minister said that the rest of the 324 clinics will be operational by January 2023.
While addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, he said, “Chief minister Basavaraja Bommai will dedicate the Namma clinics on December 14. In the initial phase, 114 clinics will be launched simultaneously across the state. The government is working to operationalise all 438 Namma Clinics across the state soon. The remaining ones will be operational by January 2023.”
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“These clinics are targeted at providing primary healthcare services to vulnerable sections of the society especially slum dwellers, daily wage workers and other economically weaker sections of society. Each Namma clinic will cater to a population of 10,000 to 20,000,” the minister added.
Health services including pregnancy, postnatal, neonatal care, childhood and adolescent care, universal immunisation services, family welfare, contraceptive, infectious disease management, common and minor ailment care, diabetes, blood pressure management, chronic diseases and oral ailments will be available at Namma clinics. It will consist of a medical officer, a nurse, lab technician and a Group D employee.
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Elderly care, emergency medical services, health check-ups and medicines will be completely free. 14 lab tests, tele-consultation services, wellness activities will also be available free of cost at Namma clinics, Sudhakar announced.
All the services will be available from Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 4.30 pm. Health care services will be accessible easily as these clinics are set up in several areas.
Namma clinics in Bengaluru
Out of 438 clinics, 243 will function under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Of 243, 100 will open for services in the first week of January 2023 and the rest will open by the end of January.
