Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday advised officials of the State Health and Family Welfare Department to also spread healthcare messages in local dialects such as Gondi, Halbi and Surgujiya in Chhattisgarh.
The Chief Minister said literature should be published in local dialects and distributed at the weekly ‘Haat’ bazaars to increase the health awareness among locals. Singh hailed the efforts of the Health Department with the co-operation of Public Relations Department to spread healthcare messages among the masses.
The Chief Minister was addressing the two-day Regional Media Workshop of five States here on the second day. The workshop was organised by the ‘Samyak Foundation’ with the co-operation of United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Chhattisgarh Government. Singh said that the ‘Pentavelant’ vaccine will protect children from five major diseases. A campaign will be launched in the entire State from December 2014. The vaccine will protect the children from Polio, Tetanus (DPT), Pneumonia, Hepatitis-B and Diphtheria.
Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Minister Amar Agrawal was present on the occasion. The journalists from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh participated in the workshop.
The Chief Minister said it is the social responsibility of the entire State to reduce infant mortality and maternal mortality. The key challenge to the Government is to lessen malnutrition among infants and mothers. ‘The State Government for the past one decade is working in this direction in a phased manner.’
The rate of infant and maternal mortality and malnutrition had come down by a marked degree. Chhattisgarh fares well on all the parameters when compared with the national average. We are making efforts to achieve complete results, he stated.
Singh revealed that no Polio case was detected during the past 12 years in the State. Panchayats should be made the centre of all medical activities with the co-operation of all Anganwadis and Mitanins.
He appealed to the media to help in vaccination of all children. Health Minister Amar Agrawal said : ‘Mitanin model was Dr Raman Singh’s gift to entire country.(Mitanin is a local woman health volunteer). An ANM is provided with mobile to help in discharge of duties. E-tracking is done in the Health Department and vaccination of each child will be documented. The system is developed keeping in view the needs of next 30 years.’
A lot of ANMs and multi-purpose health workers are being trained to provide human resources, he said. Twenty two per cent children were vaccinated at the time of formation of Chhattisgarh and at present it is 75 per cent, which is highest in all the Hindi speaking states, Agrawal said.
Dr Sachidananda Joshi, Vice-Chancellor, Khushabhau Thakre University of Journalism, Dr Kamalpreet Singh, Director, Health Services, Rahul Dev of ‘Samyak Foundation’ and Prashant Das, Hhead of Chhattisgarh unit of UNICEF, addressed the gathering.