Jammu Mobile Units

Introduction

The Mobile Cancer Screening and General Health Checkup Unit program, Jammu was initiated in March 2016, aimed at addressing the issue of lack of availability of healthcare facilities in hilly terrain of Jammu and Kashmir. It is a vast area over which the population is dispersed but the facilities are clustered in Jammu and Srinagar only. In case of an emergency, people are forced to travel over a harsh terrain, and often it is too late by the time they are able to access medical care. Primary healthcare and preventive screening is an area which is neglected and therefore, issues are identified when they manifest at the terminal stages making treatment not only expensive but also challenging with high medical risks.

The mobile units are equipped with diagnostics and pathology services and are manned by trained technicians, nurses and doctors. The role of the screening units is to travel across the State of Jammu & Kashmir, conducting screening camps in a bid to identify medical ailments early and refer patients for timely medical intervention.

  • Unit 1 – Cancer screening set-up for women screening for Breast and Cervical Cancer.
  • Unit 2 – Comprehensive health check-up clinic for screening for General Health, Cardiac ailments, Lung Cancer, Diabetes and Hypertension.

Locations

The current catchment area of Mobile Units is within 150 kilometers of the hub i.e. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Katra. It forms the primary catchment area and includes following locations-

  • Jammu City-15, 26,406
  • Udhampur-5, 55,357
  • Reasi-3, 14,714
  • Kathua-6, 15,711
  • Samba-3, 18,611
  • Rajauri-6, 19,266

These districts constitute around 32% of the total population of J&K.

The districts of Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar, Anantnag, Kulgam, Poonch, Shopian, Pulwama, Srinagar, Badgam and Ganderbal which are around 150 to 300 km from the hub, will form the secondary coverage area. These areas would come under the catchment area of Mobile Units in near future. These districts hold 48% of the total population of J&K.

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Fig 1: Coverage area of Mobile Units

Program Activities

The activities performed at Mobile Units include-

Create awareness about breast and cervical cancer, risks and lifestyle changes necessary for managing cardiac ailments, diabetes and hyper-tension, pre-delivery checkup, medication and nutrition supplements to be taken by the mother, importance of safe pregnancy and need for child birth under the supervision of a trained clinicians.

Physical examination to screen for any physical abnormalities and external tumours.

Vitals monitoring, ECG, X-ray of chest, joints and small body parts.

Mammography for screening breast cancer in women who are above the age of 40 years.

Pap smear test to screen for cervical cancer in females.

Provide lab diagnostic services for diabetes, hyper-tension, cholesterol, lipid profile, complete blood count etc.

Provide lab diagnostic services for testing general health of pregnant women.

Sending blood sample in the parent hospital for advanced investigations required by the use of best in class specimen storage facilities.

Provide early diagnosis for conditions such as diabetes, cardiac ailments and cancer etc.

Outcome

  • Total number of camps conducted: 106
  • Total number of patients screened: 14,024
  • Total number of mammograms conducted: 727
  • Total number of X-Rays conducted: 289
  • Total number of ECGs conducted: 510
  • Total number of Pap smear test conducted: 60