… as part of a pilot project in Thimphu 

Staff Reporter

The Kidu Mobile Medical Unit will collect blood samples of elderly residents of Thimphu, who are over 70 years, from August 1, 2022 in a pilot project for better care of the elderly.

The initiative stems from Royal Command granted to the Kidu Mobile Medical Unit (KMMU) to assist the national healthcare system in taking some healthcare services to the homes of elderly citizens so that they need not visit the hospital multiple times.

KMMU has partnered with the health ministry’s Elderly Care Programme and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) for the project. Blood tests are the most commonly prescribed among follow-up tests, and often require patients to visit the hospital multiple times.

Elderly patients required to do blood tests by a consulting physician have the option of registering with the JDWNRH Lab focal for the at-home collection of samples. Registration may be done over the phone by calling 17363418.

The blood sample collection team will visit homes from 6am to 9am.

The project will be evaluated for replication in other parts of the country with larger populations, where hospital visits may be encumbered by long waiting times and especially difficult for the elderly.