Hyderabad, May 14: Some 85.32 lakh children going to government schools in the state will be screened for health problems in a major new health campaign to be taken up by the state government from 15 July to 14 August.
Named Bala Arogya Raksha, the campaign, planned along the lines of Praja Patham, is to be launched by chief minister K Rosaiah.
Schoolchildren in all mandals in the state will be screened and given health cards. Cases requiring specialist care will be referred to appropriate doctors positioned at referral counters. Immunization will be taken up for every child in the 5-7 year age group and micronutrient (Vitamin A, iron and folic acid) supplements will be distributed.
Apart from this initiative for school children, a review meeting of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) called by chief minister Rosaiah today gave the go-ahead for another effort, branded Arogya Raksha, to revamp the ent ire health delivery system in the state.
Officials at the meeting explained that this initiative was meant to propel the state to the forefront of public health t h ro u g h cl u s t e r schemes, recruitment of doctors (already on) and leveraging f u n d s f rom t h e NRHM.
It is proposed that under Arogya Raksha, special programmes will be taken up for vulnerable groups with a targeted outreach to village s showing poor health indicators.
Another proposal is to have two mobile health units per district with a medical officer, a social organizer and a health educator to give focused attention to vulnerable groups. Proactive community engagement and close coordination and collaboration with the department of SERP and Women Development & Child Welfare will be taken up.
Rosaiah was informed that strategies have been worked out to substantially reduce the maternal mortality rate, revitalise the primary health system in a big way with village-level linkages, etc. A special package for tribal areas is proposed with community health and nutrition clusters.
Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana it is proposed to increase incentives for institutional deliveries. Health minister D Nagender, Arogyasri minister P Satyanarayana and other officials participated in the review.
Highlights
* Arogya Raksha aims to restructure health dept
* Bala Arogya Raksha is aimed at 85 lakh students of govt schools
* Under Janani Suraksha Yojana, incentives for institutional deliveries will be increased
* Each district will have two VH mobile health units with a medical officer, social organiser and an educator * Strategies worked out to reduce maternal mortality rate, and revitalise primary health system in a big way
* Special package for tribal areas with community health and nutrition clusters.
—-Agencies