The State on Friday entered into the elite club to own a mobile vehicle (van), allocated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), well-equipped with laboratory devices facilitating on-the-spot testing of food samples at a nominal cost.
Minister, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ramchandra Chandravanshi in the presence of other dignitaries inaugurated the first State of the Art ‘Mobile lab’ on Friday at RCH Campus, Namkum.
To curb the rising adulteration level, two lab assistants will test food samples as per FSSAI guidelines. The mobile van will be functional for 20 days in a month and besides collecting food samples from hotels, confectionery shops, it will also test the chemical contents for milk and milk products, PH level of drinking water including high content of starch in sweets, confectionery items etc on public request instantly.
State Food Analyst, Chhaturbujh Meena present on the occasion, said, “At present merely 8 to 9 States by far owns a mobile van lab. At present, we have one mobile lab; later on requisition will be made to allot some more mobile labs considering its requirement and success rate. The mobile van is decked with milkoscan machine, sugar testing apparatuses, PH meter sensor etc.”
“For elaborate tests, depending on the significance of the contamination level, officials will send the samples to the State lab in Namkum. According to the rules, two lab technicians, two lab assistants, one attendant and one driver will be appointed for smooth functioning of mobile lab. The mobile lab service at present will be restricted to only urban areas,” added Meena.
Chandravanshi also distributed appointment letters among 89 Multi Purpose Workers (MPWs), in the presence of Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Nidhi Khare, Director, National Health Mission (NHM), Kripanand Jha, Director-in-Chief of health services Dr. Sumant Mishra. The Minister on the occasion assured that 407 vacant posts of MPWs will be filled soon.
Addressing the newly appointed MPWs, Chandravanshi further added, “On Chief Minister’s recommendation MPWs are being appointed.
In many States of India today, MPW posts has been ended. The newly appointed MSWs must pledge to work with an aim to create a difference and spread awareness about the government schemes among the public.”
Similarly, Secretary, Nidhi Khare said, “Efforts should be made to complete the given target on time in co-ordination with different department personnel.” Khare on the occasion, emphasized upon checking the early marriage cases. Reports suggest alarming rate of increasing cases of minor girls marrying before 18 years in rural Jharkhand. “To bring the fertility rate down, it is mandatory to create awareness among the adolescents through MPWs,” Khare added. At present, the State Government has sanctioned 2150 posts for MPWs.
Over 1654 MPWs are lending their services across the State now.
In a separate meeting Khare also reviewed the status of Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) 2018-19 in presence of all senior officers of the Department on Friday. Khare instructed the officials to prepare the detailed report of PIP at the earliest, so that the draft copy can be submitted to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI for the final approval.