Jaljala sends health workers to villages to check health of elderly

By Our Correspondent,Parbat, Sept. 18: Jaljala Rural Municipality in Parbat district has started examining the health of senior citizens by visiting them in their settlements. 

According to Deepak Acharya, Deputy Chairperson of the rural municipality, as only senior citizens are living in the villages and they lack transportation facilities to reach the hospital, the rural municipality has started providing health services by reaching their villages. 

"After their health check-up, those suffering from serious illness are sent to health institutions for the needed medical treatment and others with normal symptoms are provided with medicines in their homes,” said Acharya.

The health checkup of the senior people will be conducted once every two months by sending health workers to the villages, he added. 

 The health service facilitates include blood tests, and tests of high blood pressure, diabetes, gastric and piles among others.  The health workers were mobilised to the villages for the first time as per the rural municipality’s annual programme for the current fiscal year.  

According to Ganesh Malla, Health Department Chief of Jaljala Rural Municipality, health workers were mobilised in 90 settlements of nine wards of the rural municipality to examine the health of senior citizens.   " Health check-ups of all elderly aged above 60 years will be conducted and medicines and required medical equipment will be provided free of cost," Malla said. 

Raju Acharya, Chairperson of the Rural Municipality, said that the senior citizens of poor economic conditions and living in remote villages would benefit from the programme. 

" Patients suffering from serious illness are provided with free ambulance service in the rural municipality. The patients are taken to Beni Hospital of Myagdi district, Parbat Hospital, Dhaulagiri Hospital of Baglung and those who cannot be recovered there are sent to Pokhara Hospital," said Acharya. 

“In the current fiscal year, the rural municipality has allocated Rs. 600,000 for the screening of non-communicable diseases of elderly people, and if the budget becomes insufficient, an executive meeting will be conducted to manage the additional budget,” informed the rural municipality.