Bengaluru: In a pioneering initiative under the state government’s prestigious ‘Griha Arogya Yojana’, a comprehensive plan has been devised to conduct household visits for blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer screenings.
The pilot phase of the project is currently underway at the Hiregauja and Lakya Health and Wellness Centers (HWC) in Chikmagalur district. Following the successful implementation of the pilot, the first phase will be extended to Ramanagara, Tumkur, Belgaum, Gadag, Bellary, Yadgiri, Dakshina Kannada, and Mysore districts.
As part of the program, oral, breast, and cervical cancer screenings will be conducted at every home for individuals aged 30 and above through health and wellness centers. If any cancer symptoms are detected, further confirmation and specialized consultations will be carried out at the nearest community health center or taluk hospital, followed by appropriate treatment measures.
Health staff will visit 20 houses three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), conducting screenings in both the morning and afternoon. The objective is to cover all homes within the Health and Wellness Center (HWC) coverage area in 16 weeks.
State health minister Dinesh Gundurao expressed the significance of the program, emphasizing its potential to save lives across the state. As part of the first phase, the project aims to deliver free medicines to people’s doorsteps.
Each visited home will be marked with a home health sticker, and color-coded stickers will identify non-communicable disease (NCD) households. The Community Health Officer will record this information on the NCD app.
Regular monthly camps will screen patients with high blood pressure (BP) and diabetes at Health and Wellness Centers. These camps, held every 15 days, are facilitated by a team of medical officers at various public locations. Additional staff will be deputed by District Health and Family Welfare Officers if the number of patients increases, and NCD clinic teams are also available for deployment as needed.
In each door-to-door team, two to four staff members will conduct camps every 15 days, marking each visited house with a home health sticker.
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