Soon, Student Doctor Cadets (SDC) in schools across the Porunnannur and Pulpally health blocks in Wayanad district will impart lessons on a healthy lifestyle: how to protect themselves from child abuse and the ill effects of using drugs and liquor to their friends.
Said to be the first of its kind in the country, the initiative under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) programme of the Union Health Ministry is aimed at enabling all adolescents in the country to realise their full potential by making informed and responsible decisions related to their health and well-being.
“The pilot project, being executed by the Health Department, is envisaged to train selected students studying in Classes 7 and 8 on topics relating to health, including physical and mental health, issues of the age group,” P. Bineesh, RKSK nodal officer, Wayanad, told The Hindu .
The peer group would share their knowledge to their classmates at free time and clarify their doubts as well as address their issues. The SDCs would bring serious issues of their classmates, if any, to the attention of schools health nurses.
“We had organised a six-day training programme in the district a few days ago in connection with launching a pilot project in the State. As many as 632 students of various schools in Pulpally and Porunnannur health blocks of the district trained as SDCs,” he said.
The training programme would continue every year during vacation and it is expected that the cadets would discharge their duties till Plus Two classes. All the cadets would be provided with white coats and handbooks. Refresher training programmes also would be organised for them every year, Dr. Bineesh added.
District medical officer R. Vivek Kumar, district reproductive and child health officer K.Jithesh, and district programme manager Abhilash handled various sessions of the training programme.
The pilot project would be formally launched by the first week of May.