Major cities of Gujarat will soon get evening clinics in areas that have high concentration of labourers, daily wagers and poor people, where free treatment will be provided for basic ailments, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar, Patel, who also handles the health portfolio, said these clinics will be named after BJP ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
The clinics will be opened soon in collaboration with municipal corporations, and an honorarium will be given to private doctors who are willing to provide their services, he said.
''The idea is to provide free treatment to poor people near their homes. As labourers and daily wagers leave their homes in the morning for work and are away all day, these clinics will remain open for four to five hours in the evening, when they return home,'' the deputy chief minister said.
Municipal corporations will provide the required infrastructure, such as buildings and furniture, for the clinics, he said.
''We will rope in private doctors who are willing to provide their services at these clinics in the evenings. The state government will give an honorarium to such doctors and their staff. People will not be charged for diagnosis or basic medicines. Although treatment for basic ailments will be done at these clinics, doctors can refer serious cases to big hospitals,'' Patel added.