SHILLONG — Three Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) will begin serving communities in Mawpat, Pynursla and Baghmara, bringing primary healthcare closer to more than two lakh people across 93 villages.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma inaugurated the units in Shillong on Tuesday, with the programme supported by Altius under its CSR initiative and implemented by Apollo Foundation – Total Health.
The three units will cover around 45 villages in Mawpat, 26 in Pynursla and 22 in Baghmara. Each vehicle has doctors and trained medical staff, along with equipment for basic diagnostics, medicines and technology-enabled electronic medical records.
The teams will provide consultations, treatment and follow-up care within communities and refer patients to higher facilities when specialised treatment is needed. The programme will place particular attention on non-communicable diseases, including screening and management, while cancer screening and vision care will also form part of the outreach.
Sangma said the government had focused on health and education since 2018, arguing that development had little value if its benefits did not reach people.But the Chief Minister reserved his sharpest point for the launch itself.
“Launching the ambulance is the easiest part,” he said, warning that the programme would mean little if the vehicles ended up sitting in parking lots rather than reaching patients.
“The real happiness will come when we save lives, when we are able to provide that medicine to the child, when we are able to attend to the poor, the needy and the elders,” Sangma said.
He said the success of the programme should be judged by patients treated and lives saved, rather than the launch event or the organisations involved.
Sangma also flagged digital connectivity as an issue for technology-based healthcare services, referring to feedback received through the government’s CM Connect programme.
The MMUs will operate across the three identified blocks, with the stated focus on regular community outreach, early screening and continued care.
