Bengaluru: As the state’s door-to-door health screening programme aims to diagnose and manage non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Gruha Arogya is inching towards its target of reaching out to 1 crore people. The scheme will now be extended to economically weaker sections (EWS) residing within Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits. Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao recently held a meeting with GBA officials to discuss the modalities.Under the scheme, health workers in rural areas went door-to-door to screen the general population aged 30 and above for 14 NCDs, including hypertension, diabetes, a few types of cancer — oral, breast and cervical — anaemia, fatty liver disease, diabetic foot and retinopathy, and mental health conditions. The scheme was launched in Oct 2024 as a pilot project in Kolar district. In June 2025, the scheme was extended across the state.
“Since then, we screened around 85 lakh people in rural areas and now we will extend the programme to GBA limits. Given the city’s population, we will not be able to screen every resident. Hence, we are choosing to check only those who reside in slums and belong to economically weaker sections to improve their access to healthcare. We traced some of these pockets,” Rao told TOI.While ASHAs have been tasked with screening so far, under GBA limits, the health department faces a shortfall in human resources. “We have fewer human resources here, and we discussed with GBA about resource provision, while we will also be utilising ASHAs. As sub-centres usually serve as our referral centres in rural areas, within GBA we have to use their Namma Clinics and, to some extent, our own primary health centres,” Rao explained.Under the scheme, patients with hypertension and diabetes would be given medicines, and so far, more than 5 lakh people have been issued medicines. “When implementing the scheme within GBA limits, we will be providing all the medicines. With their staff, this will be a combined effort,” the minister added.
