The State Government is determined to provide people of the state access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services. To provide complete range of health care services for population living in remote, inaccessible, un-served and underserved areas mainly with the objective of taking healthcare service delivery to the doorsteps of these populations, the state Government through Health Department and National Health Mission has started Jeevan Dhara, a mobile Primary Health Centre- Health and Wellness Centre.
The Jeevan Dhara is a step towards providing health care services in unfavourable topography of the hilly state of Himachal, which was flagged off by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on 18th November, 2020. The Jeevan Dhara provides free consultation by Medical Officer, free drugs and screening for hypertension, diabetes and cancer. It also provides outpatient services besides routine antenatal checkups in the area of operation along with IEC sessions on a range of health topics. The Jeevan Dhara is also being used for natural or man-made calamities or in disaster situations, epidemics or pandemics such as Covid-19 to provide services to affected populations.
The 10 Jeevan Dhara vans are providing its services in Kangra, Mandi, Shimla, Chamba, Kullu, Sirmaur and Solan districts of the State. Under Jeevan Dhara MMU’s in the state 955 camps were done till June 2021. About 32569 OPD screening and 17778 lab test have been done so far under Jeevan Dhara.
With evolving situation of Covid-19 all the ten Jeevan Dhara have been deployed for Rapid Antigen Testing. About 12140 tests have been performed by Jeevan Dhara MMU in seven different districts of the State from 11th May, 2021 to 7th July, 2021. During this period, there is one Jeevan Dhara deployed in Chamba which performed 672 tests in District Chamba, 1652 tests in Kangra, 1668 tests in Kullu, 2562 tests in Mandi, 1803 tests in Shimla, 2719 tests in Solan and 1064 tests in Sirmaur have been performed under Jeevan Dhara.
Free medical consultancy and screening provided to the patients in this Jeevan Dhara Mobile Health and Wellness Centre is proving boon to the people of the State.