Children studying in govt schools in Maharashtra to get personalised health cards
Children studying in government-run and aided schools in Maharashtra will now get personalised health cards which will have up-to-date information after regular health check-ups conducted in schools. State has also developed a dedicated health app to store this information digitally for each student.
Further, in case a health check-up of any student shows requirement of further medical treatment, such support will be provided through schemes available under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), a Central government initiative. This initiative is implemented through the National Health Mission and targets early detection and treatment of the '4Ds'—Defects at birth, Diseases, Deficiencies, and Developmental delays, including disabilities—among children aged 0 to 18 years.
The state's school education department made the announcement on Tuesday via a Government Resolution (GR) declared in this regard along with detailed instructions for schools. An official from the school education department said, 'In rural areas, there are children having health issues such as hearing loss, imperfect vision or vitamin deficiencies etc. which remain unnoticed. Regular health check-ups in schools will ensure that every child with any illness or physical or other difficulty is identified soon and required medical support can be provided.'
Under this initiative, committees will be set up at different levels for effective implementations. The district-level committees will include officers from the school education department of the government to decide planning for annual health check-ups and maintain the data. Whereas taluka level committees will further include local medical officers, doctors, nurses etc along with education officers to conduct health check-ups in school.
The GR clarifies that the schools will have to take responsibility for conducting health check-ups, as per the annual plan decided to conduct health check-ups on different intervals. Dedicated medical inspection teams, each consisting of two medical officers, a doctor, and a nurse, will be provided at the taluka level. These teams will visit kindergartens, schools, and ashram-shalas to conduct on-site health check-ups. Children identified with serious ailments will be referred to higher medical facilities for further treatment or surgeries, as per the programme's guidelines.
Welcoming the move, Mahendra Ganpule, former head of the Maharashtra School Principals' Association, said, 'Such health check-ups were happening in some schools wherever the School Management Committees (SMCs) took initiatives with help from locals. However, this initiative will ensure that every child in all government schools is getting this facility. It is very important as many times even their parents are unaware of certain health issues. Furthermore, digitally stored data ensures that even if a child changes school, due to relocation of parents, his or her updated health-card will be accessible to the new school.'
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