URBAN HEALTH TRAINING CENTRE, JEPPU

OVERVIEW

The Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC) at Jeppu has been functioning since around 2007. The UHTC is under the administrative control of the department of Community Medicine of the college. The UHTC is situated about 2.5 km from Father Muller Medical College, Kankanady, Mangaluru.

STAFFING PATTERN

Dr Nishanth Krishna K, Associate Professor is the overall staff in-charge of the UHTC. Dr Shakuntala M Mugadur, Obstetrician is the Lady Medical Officer for the UHTC. The staff of the department of Community Medicine function as medical officer in the OPD on a weekly basis.

The doctors are assisted in their daily activities by Medico-social workers, Health educators, Health inspectors, Public Health Nurse, Technicians and other support staff.

CATCHMENT AREA

The UHTC Jeppu catchment area covers about 6 wards-Attavara, Mangaladevi, Hoigebazar, Bolar, Jeppu and Cantonment. The UHTC covers population of around 46231 and has got about 6500 family folders. The UHTC services focuses on serving the needs of the urban poor population located in these catchment areas.

SERVICES OFFERED

The services are mainly directed towards the urban poor population including migrant workers residing in the field practice area, in line with the targeted population of the National Urban Health Mission. The services offered are general OPD services, Specialist OPD services, referral services, laboratory services, immunization services, school and anganwadi health check-up and health education sessions

OPD FACILITIES

The UHTC has OPD service which functions every day except Sunday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm. The UHTC provides general/community medicine OPD and specialist OPD services.

General/community medicine OPD services: One faculty from the Department manages the Community Medicine OPD on a daily basis and tends to the general out patient cases. The various cases seen vary from communicable and non-communicable diseases to animal bites and trauma cases.

• Specialist OPD services: All OBG Patients are seen by the Lady Medical Officer. In addition, specialist OPD are conducted on fixed days of the week as follows-
  • All days of the week: OBG (Lady Medical Officer)
  • Tuesday: Dermatology and General Medicine
  • Thursday: Paediatrics

The specialist OPD is managed by the Faculty and Postgraduates of respective departments. OBG postgraduates are also posted to the UHTC one day in a week i.e on Mondays.

In addition, other specialist services will be provided on a camp approach if a need is recognised.

LABORATORY SERVICES

The UHTC also provides free basic laboratory diagnostic tests on a daily basis during the morning session. The samples collected are tested at Father Muller Medical College Hospital. Free testing for malaria is also provided in the morning and afternoon session. In addition to the technicians posted in the UHTC, MLT students are also posted in the centre to assist the staff. Free laboratory tests are conducted in the UHTC like CBC, FBS, PPBS, GRBS.

Free testing for Malaria smear and Sputum smear is done in association with the Mangalore city Corporation and Urban PHC laboratories located in the same building.

INTERN ACTIVITIES

Interns are posted for 1 month per batch in the UHTC. On an average there are 2-3 interns posted at one time. The interns are given hands-on training by the staff of Department of Community Medicine and the LMO in primary care and family practice.

• Immunization activities are undertaken in the centre on a weekly basis on every Thursday.
• Health Check-up and Health Education Activities are organised by the interns under the supervision of the staff in Anganwadis, Schools and self-help groups on a monthly basis or as per the needs of the beneficiaries.
• Anganwadi health check-up activities are carried out on a monthly basis.
• The interns also take part in Health check-up camps, school health camps, outbreak investigation and other health services which are provided by the centre as per the request of the beneficiary organisations/ district health authorities.

All these services are undertaken in association with UPHC Jeppu and the various NGOs and the schools in the area.