NEW DELHI : Social distancing norms to curb the spread of covid-19 could affect essential healthcare services in rural India, with the government re-organising the services traditionally delivered through outreach programmes.
While some maternal, newborn and child healthcare services and prevention and management of communicable diseases will see changes, non-covid services, such as health promotion, Information Education Communication (IEC) campaigns, community-based screening for chronic conditions and other screening programmes, will be undertaken only after the lockdown is lifted on 3 May.
The public health facilities and workforce are currently flooded with activities to check the pandemic, the health ministry told states. “In doing