Giving a call to make child health protection a mass movement, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said that the dream of a ‘golden’ Uttar Pradesh could not be realised until childhood was healthy and safe.

“Infant mortality rate of UP has come down but it is still a big challenge for us to bring it below the national average,” he said here on Sunday.

The chief minister said this while inaugurating a special vaccination campaign for children and pregnant women who were left out during the COVID-19 transit period. He also distributed golden cards to the beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat scheme and launched a special drive to search for tuberculosis patients.

On the occasion, the chief minister said that the state government was committed to protecting women and children in every possible way. Necessary vaccination of children and pregnant women that could not be done during the COVID-19 period would be completed through this campaign, which would continue till January 2021.

“It will cover all the left outs from block level in rural areas to urban areas,” he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Healthy India’, the chief minister said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme aimed at providing medical care to all.

He said those who could not be covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme would be covered under the Mukhya Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana launched by the state government.

The chief minister asked officials to ensure distribution of golden cards, required to avail the benefit of the scheme, to all the eligible persons so that the needy people could get the best possible medical treatment.

To serve the purpose of the scheme, the UP government has launched a drive to verify the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat and provide them the golden card. The drive has been undertaken in 6,709 villages of the state which have no golden cards as yet.

Stating that the role of Ayushman Mitras was very important, the chief minister said their responsibilities should be fixed to ensure that no eligible person was deprived of the ‘golden card’.

He also directed officials to collect information about the houses and the families that were earlier left out from the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

It may be mentioned here that while 1.18 crore families that were identified in Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 are getting the benefit of Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Central government, 8.43 lakh families deprived of this scheme are receiving benefits of Mukhya Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan.

Thus, as many as 6.32 crore people of UP are getting free health facilities under both these schemes and Arogya Mitras have been appointed to assist them in getting benefits of the health schemes.

A total of 98 lakh beneficiaries have been identified in the state and golden cards have been issued to them. Out of these, 5.3 lakh are beneficiaries of the Mukhya Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan.