Under Mid Day Meal, health check-ups of students begin in Govt schools across J&K UT

TNN Bureau. Updated: 2/26/2021 12:54:19 PM Jammu and Kashmir

Jammu, Feb 26: Jammu and Kashmir administration has started health check-ups of students issued ‘Student Health Card’ in all the government schools under Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme across the Union Territory.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu in March 2020 launched ‘Student Health Card’ and stressed on the role of school going children in spreading awareness on Corona Virus and other diseases.

Mission Director, J&K Mid Day Meal, Dr Arun Manhas here told UNI, “under Mid Day Meal scheme, ‘Student Health Card’ were issued to the students from the age group of 5-12 years after filling a form with complete health related details to ascertain any deficiencies among the kids.”

“The exercise was stopped due to COVID-19 pandemic last year but now the schools have reopened, the health check-ups of enrolled students have commenced,” said the Mission Director.

Initially, the check-ups under weekly schedules have started in Jammu, Samba, Rajouri, Poonch districts of Jammu Province and will start in Srinagar once schools reopen in March, he asserted.

“Once this exercise will be completed, the health report card of students will be maintained and remain in schools record,” Dr Manhas said adding that at the time of migration, students can be issued these cards to be submitted to the next school at the time of admission.

Jammu and Kashmir Government in a significant move to ensure full medical coverage of over 12 lakh students enrolled in government schools from Class I to XII across the Union Territory, issued ‘Student Health Card’ to students under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) in the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS).

There are around 23, 747 government schools in J&K, including 12,252 in Kashmir Division and 11495 in Jammu Province.

“Glad to share that Health CheckUp of students in Govt. schools have commenced. The Health Card will become the Health Repository of students. A collaborative effort of MDM J&K and NHM J&K,” Dr Manhas wrote on his microblogging site.

The initiative will benefit the students from class first to 12th studying in all government schools across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir under which the students will be examined twice a year under “Rashtriya Bal Swashtya Karyakram”.

“The motive behind the issuance of the health card is to keep a proper health record of all enrolled students in government schools. Under RBSK, it is mandatory to have medical check-up of students at least once in a year, but under this new Student Health Card, the medical check-up of the students will be done twice in a year,” he said.

As per the official data available, out of total 9,41,554 children, only 7,56,336 (80 per cent) children were screened for health check-up under the RBSK in 2019.

Further, only 4,40,137 (47 per cent) children were distributed iron and folic acid tablets under the Weekly Iron and Folic acid Supplementation programme (WIFS) while 4,96,327 (53 percent) children were distributed de-worming tablets in the same year.


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