Central health project for schoolchildren shortly

A Central Government project to screen and treat all children up to 18 years for a set of 30 health conditions will be implemented in Coimbatore district in a couple of weeks.

Teams

The State Health Department has already constituted 12 teams, each comprising a male and a female doctor, staff nurse and a pharmacist, in Coimbatore, with one for each block, official sources told

The Hindu here on Saturday. Health officials have requested the Centre to sanction additional funds to constitute at least eight more teams for the district to facilitate extensive coverage.

The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) focused on diseases, deficiencies, disability and developmental delays and aimed to cover 27 crore children across India annually. The objective was to bring in universal screening to enable early detection of medical conditions, follow it up with timely intervention to achieve a reduction in mortality, morbidity and lifelong disability.

Categories

The scheme has divided children into three categories: those below six weeks, those between six weeks and six years and those from six to 18 years.

For the children up to six weeks, screening will take place at Government hospitals or primary health centres. Those diagnosed with congenital conditions will be treated at the District Early Intervention Centre coming up at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

In order to cater to children delivered at homes, ASHA Health volunteers, mostly deployed in remote rural and tribal areas, will be trained to identify such conditions. They will mobilise the health department teams if they detect any health condition. The 12 block health teams will conduct periodical camps at Anganwadi centres to cater to pre-school children in the age group of six weeks to six years. There are 1,697 Anganwadi centres in the district, run by Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), a Central Government-sponsored social welfare scheme, which provided nutritious food to pregnant women and children below six years.

For those up to 18 years, screening camps will be conducted in all Government and aided schools on a daily basis. Every government student will be screened at least twice a year. The Health Department will work with the School Education Department to implement this scheme, sources added.