In a humanitarian gesture, the Raj Bhawan, led by Governor Anandiben Patel, will adopt TB infected children and ensure that they get proper medicine and nutritious food so that they may lead a healthy life.
The decision was taken at a function held at Raj Bhawan here on Sunday.
Governor Anandiben Patel has adopted Mohsina (name changed) while 20 other children have been adopted by the staff of the Raj Bhawan.
It would be the responsibility of the staff concerned to ensure that these children get nutritious food, medicines and proper education, the Governor said.
All the children are from an area near the Raj Bhawan and this will make their monitoring easy.
“The Governor had suggested that a beginning be made from the area near Raj Bhawan and later spread this protective ring,” a senior official of Raj Bhawan told this reporter.
The Governor, in her address, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target to make India TB-free by 2025. Keeping this commitment in mind, the Raj Bhawan had taken the lead and had decided to adopt children suffering from TB.
“Adopting a child is not an obligation. It is the responsibility of a person to help a society. Those who are rich should spare some money for these people who need help. These are small steps but can help in achieving a big target,” the Governor said, adding that the government could not reach every nook and corner of the state and it was the responsibility of the common man to help the poor.
Patel said people of the deprived sections of society could not avail the benefits of government schemes because they did not know about them.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that the benefits (of welfare schemes) reach the people who need them the most,” she said.
District leprosy officer Dr PK Gupta said that in Lucknow, around 14,600 TB patients had been identified and all of them would get Rs 500 as nutrition allowance.