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Bridging the Gaps in Health Service Delivery for Truck Drivers of India Through Mobile Medical Units

BACKGROUND: Truck drivers in India suffer from many lifestyle-related health problems. Providing primary health care services to truck drivers is essential to improve their overall health and well-being. This paper reports the findings of a community-based mobile medical unit program providing nonem...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chanda, Subrata, Randhawa, Sonali, Bambrah, Hardeep Singh, Fernandes, Thomson, Dogra, Vishal, Hegde, Shailendra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7703829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33281377
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_276_19
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Truck drivers in India suffer from many lifestyle-related health problems. Providing primary health care services to truck drivers is essential to improve their overall health and well-being. This paper reports the findings of a community-based mobile medical unit program providing nonemergency and basic primary care services to truck drivers along the major highways of India. Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute launched this community-based mobile medical unit program, in partnership with Shriram Transport Finance Corporation Limited (STFCL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The paper describes the program model, its coverage, the sociodemographic profile, and common health morbidities of the truck drivers availing the program services. 2-year routine program data (April 2017 to March 2019) were accessed and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 1,167,210 number of unique truck drivers availed the program services during the reference period, of which 61,331 had complete data. The majority of truck drivers were male (99.1%) and just a few women (0.88%) and transgender (0.003%). The mean age was 45.5 years ± 10.91 and nearly half (49%) were in the productive age group (31–45 years). Noncommunicable and other chronic diseases (34.74%), musculoskeletal problems (24.17%), communicable diseases (14.52%), oral cavity-related problems (1.23%), and other minor ailments (17.77%) were the major consultation categories. CONCLUSION: Truck drivers in India have significant health morbidities. Providing primary health care services to truck drivers through mobile medical units is a step toward achieving universal health coverage.