Sabzsitara Clinics

Quality & Affordability

Greenstar is pioneer in social franchising of private healthcare services. It currently has a network of 7,000 private healthcare providers in the network, branded under the name Sabz Sitara. These providers counsel clients in family planning methods and supply the full range of contraceptives. The providers are given comprehensive training on contraceptive technology which are competency based trainings other than MCH by medically qualified and trained doctors-the training includes both classroom and clinical training.

Quality service provision by these service providers is monitored by Greenstar’s technically trained staff, using internationally acclaimed monitoring tools, to provide on-the-site mentoring and recommendations for improving the quality of services provided.

Story of Sitara

Sitara and her husband live in a semi-urban part of Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab amidst a Siraiki speaking community. Her community consists of about 4000-5000 people, most of whom are uneducated and from a low income background. The public facilities in the area are very basic. Mr. Akram works as a laborer and earns Rs. 300 ($3) a day. Some days he earns nothing at all.

Although the couple has two young daughters, one aged 3 years old and the other aged 1 year old, Sitara is under pressure from her family to have a male child. Sitara is weak and already facing financial and physical difficulty in bringing up her two daughters.

Nadia, a community educator from Greenstar, visited Sitara's home. She educated Sitara regarding health care, birth spacing and the various methods available to her. While Sitara was in discussion with the community educator, her mother-in-law joined the discussion. She was not happy to see the community educator. She refused to listen to her or consider birth spacing for her daughter-in-law.

However, the community educator was motivated and persisted in her efforts to help Sitara. She paid her another visit. She explained to the mother-in-law, that if she wanted her future grandson to be healthy, she would have to look after the health of the child's mother. "If you care for a crop, it gives good results. Similarly if a mother is healthy, then the baby will be healthy", Nadia explained to the family.

Finally, Sitara's mother-in-law was convinced. Nadia took Sitara's details and accompanied her to a nearby Greenstar service provider. The service provider, Ms. Ensari, briefed Sitara about available contraceptive options and cleared her misconceptions. She explained the health benefits of family planning. She completed a basic checkup of Sitara and suggested a suitable method to her.

Sitara adopted IUCD (Multiload), a method of long-term family planning that can provide protection for upto 5 years. She can now focus on the upbringing of her daughters and support her family and mother-in-law better.

Nadia is also a star for helping Sitara receive the healthcare and birth spacing that she needs!