Although the Centre launches different schemes for development of the poor and deprived, lack of interest at the lower level has hampered the implementation of the programmes. The Rastriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is one such Centrally-sponsored scheme under the National Health Mission which is yet to take shape in tribals-dominated Keonjhar district.
According to a notification (No: 51/13/31.12.2013) by the Director, NRHM, Odisha, applications were invited for posts of doctors and other medical staffs to work on a contractual basis in different districts under the RBSK. later, the NRHM Director instructed the Chief District Medical Officer to fill up the vacancies under the RBSK and carry on the project at the district level.
The RBSK has started working in other districts since a year but not in Keonjhar, where appointments of staffs and doctors are still pending. The project aims to provide free treatment in specialised hospitals for physically-handicapped and specially-challenged children under 18 years, but such disadvantaged children in Keonjhar district have to wait till the local administration finds time to extend the services.
The CDMO and the health administration claim that implementation of the RBSK has begun in the district, but social activists wonder as to how the project would operate without appointment of doctors and other staffs.