Health Minister Etela Rajender flags off specially equipped 17 mobile vans

Home care services for people suffering from end-stage medical conditions in Telangana have been expanded further with Health Minister, Eatala Rajender on Tuesday flagging-off specially equipped 17 mobile vans, dubbed as Mobile Home Care Units (MHCU).

As part of the Telangana Palliative Health and Home Care initiative, in the past year, nine mobile home care units have provided services to 19, 479 active palliative patients in nine districts of the State.

The palliative home care services are essentially aimed to enhance quality of life of patients suffering from end-stage medical conditions like cancers, organ failure, heart diseases and other ailments by offering them medical services through a care giver at their homes.

On Tuesday, 17 more vehicles were added to the fleet, which will now take palliative care to the doorsteps of immobile patients in 16 more districts of the State. “In villages and even in urban slum settlements, there are many patients who are immobile and need health care services. Due to their critical condition, they



can’t travel and these mobile health care units are meant for them,” Rajender said.

The palliative home care services are already being implemented in nine districts including Adilabad, Warangal Urban, Khammam, Siddipet, Jangaon, Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, Yadadri and Hyderabad. So far, in these nine districts, the home care services have provided health care services to 19,479 patients in 1033 villages. The local Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers identify the patients who are then given access to palliative care facilities in their homes.

The new MHCUs will now provide similar facilities in 16 districts – Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu, Gadwal, Asifabad, Mahabubabad, Mancherial, Medak, Medchal, Nagarkurnool, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Rajanna Siricilla, Sangareddy, Vikarabad, Wanaparthy and Karimnagar.

“The Chief Minister, K Chandrashekhar Rao has directed to further expand the initiative to other parts of the State, which will happen in the coming months,” the Minister said.