Meet Doctor At Police Station: A Police Station In Kerala Runs Pediatric Clinic On Sundays Giving Free Medicines
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When you think of a police station, what is the image that comes to your mind? Probably, it can be the dark rooms or the khaki-clad police. Even though the concept of ‘Janamaithri Police’ (people-friendly police) has been introduced in the southern state of Kerala, people are always scared of the police.

Have you ever seen a doctor consulting patients in a police station? A police station in North Kerala sets an unusual model transforming the Police station as a pediatric clinic on Sundays.The police station is situated in Kannur, a place infamous for the political killings. This is the first time in the state that a police station offers free medical service and works as a pediatric clinic.

This novel idea is the brainchild of circle inspector TK Retnakumar of Kannur town police station. The child-friendly room in the police station is decorated with attractive paintings, pictures and cartoons creating an ambience that will positively impact children. Supported by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, 14 doctors visit the child-friendly police station on Sundays from 10 am to 1 pm.

As part of the community service, the station already had a child-friendly unit giving counselling and awareness classes to the children. “Six police stations in the state- Thiruvananthapuram North, Kollam east, Thrissur East, Ernakulam- Kadavanthra, Kozhikode and Kannur have a child-friendly unit, but they do not offer this kind of medical facility,” TK Retnakumar told The Logical Indian. “Many paediatric wings in the district do not function on Sundays. So parents had to consult duty doctors. So, I felt a need to set up a paediatric clinic as part of the child-friendly unit here,” he added.

Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran inaugurated the project on January 14. “Soon after its inauguration on the last Sunday, 12 children availed the service of this free paediatric police clinic,” said Retnakumar.

Retna Kumar added that they have now planned to construct a small medical store inside the station and hire a pharmacist. They also have a plan to approach the nearby pharmacies to provide free medicines to the visiting patients.

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Editor : Anoopa Sebastian Sebastian

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