text: To increase access to primary health care services, the health ministry will construct five additional satellite clinics in the country. It is a part of the health sector development program. A groundbreaking ceremony was held at one of the sites at Babena in Thimphu today.
  The clinics will be at Babena, Debsi, Simtokha, and Motithang in Thimphu and one in Phuentshogling. The government and the Asian Development Bank is funding the project worth more than $ 1 M.
  The satellite clinics will have basic health services like X-rays, blood tests and regular vaccinations for children.
  Once complete, the clinics will decongest patient load at the National Referral Hospital and Phuentshogling General Hospital. Health specialists will also visit the clinics.
  “We all know that if we have to go to the hospital, for instance, if you are diabetic, you will have to be there at the hospital by five or six in the morning. Therefore, after the completion of the satellite clinics, you would be able to get such health facilities very easily,” said the health minister, Dechen Wangmo.
  The clinics will also help improve the health information system. They will provide responses and follow-ups on patients through records maintained with the clinic.
  Edited by Sangay Chezom