Health & wellness centres that offer yoga, telecare coming soon in Bengaluru

The BBMP will open 243 health and wellness centres (HWCs) across Bengaluru over the next few months in an effort to plug critical gaps in the public health system.

The HWCs will be below the primary health centres (PHCs) in the city’s public health system.

Each HWC will have a yoga centre and provide teleconsultation and regular screening for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. A medical officer, a staff nurse and two-member support staff will be posted at each HWC.

The BBMP’s health department is currently looking for places where these HWCs can be opened and hopes to complete the process by this weekend. The groundwork could begin as early as April, said Dr K V Thrilok Chandra, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP.

The civic body is looking to open the HCWs in its existing buildings or those owned by the state government instead of setting up new infrastructure. The HCWs will report to the 161 PHCs run by the civic body.

The HWCs are being set up under the central government’s Ayushman Bharat programme with funding from the 15th Finance Commission. India’s first HWC opened at Chhattisgarh’s Jangla village in April 2018.

Apart from providing healthcare, the HWCs are meant to actively engage the local community for an improved and healthy lifestyle-based approach. Teleconsultation is one of its major components.

To date, nearly 40,000 HWCs have been set up across the country, according to a study. These centres have held 9.5 lakh yoga sessions, treated seven million people for hypertension, 3.1 million for diabetes mellitus and provided essential medicines to 16 million beneficiaries.

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