HYDERABAD: A mosque at Hasan Nagar in Rajendranagar mandal in the city has opened a clinic and wellness centre to provide free medicare to an estimated 10,000 people living in five urban slums after a survey revealed a high percentage of seasonal and vector-borne diseases in the area.
This is the fourth mosque in Hyderabad to offer its premises to run a clinic to meet the medical and health needs of the poor irrespective of religion. The clinic, which was opened formally on Tuesday at Masjid-e-Adam, serves as a primary healthcare centre catering particularly to seasonal and vector-borne diseases. The mosque clinic will function from 9.30 am to 4 pm daily except on Fridays when it will remain open from 3 pm to 9 pm.
The decision to open the clinic at the mosque comes after a door-to-door survey in Hasan Nagar division by Helping Hand Foundation, an NGO, covering 550 households, revealed the poor health status of people and inadequacy of the medical and health services there. About 70% of the respondents said that access to primary care in their basti needs improvement.
The survey also revealed that every other household has adults and children sick with viral fever, cold and cough. In all, 65% said they were forced to go to private clinics in the basti, which open mainly after 3 pm and run till midnight. Although these clinics charge Rs 50 to Rs 100, most of these clinics prescribe medicines and tests that cost Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per visit, said HHF managing trustee Mujtaba Hasan Askari.
“Thanks to tight financial position and loss of income, 55% of the respondents said they can only afford medication of one child and they normally share the same medicine between other siblings if all of them fall sick,” Askari told TOI.
The mosque health centre was opened by Mazharuddin Hussaini, executive director, sSEED, a partner in the initiative. This unique model of providing free and quality primary health care from mosques in Hyderabad has so far benefited 1.15 lakh patients this year. It has also helped the poor patients save Rs 5.75 crore out of pocket expenses as the mosque clinics provide free medicines.
