Malnutrition in children a big challenge say the PM
On the occasion of the 66th
Independence Day, the Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh said that India is facing a
big challenge of eradicating malnutrition in children. He also promised that
the UPA ( United Progressive Alliance) has taken steps to deal with the
problem. Addressing the nation on the 66th Independence Day, the prime minister
said: “Malnutrition in children is a big challenge for us. We have taken steps
in many dimensions to deal with this problem.”
“In the last eight years, the number
of mothers and children benefiting from the ICDS (Integrated Child Development
Service) has doubled,” he said. The prime minister said that the process of
making ICDS more effective was in its last stages and would be completed in the
next one or two months.
Source:
http://health.india.com
16.08.2012
India
to provide free medicines and better health care
The Indian government has taken a step closer to better
healthcare. The government has proposed to give away free medicines through
government hospitals and health centres. This was announced here by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the nation on Independence Day. The
prime minister said the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in
2005 so that health services could be extended to every village. After its
success, “we now want to expand the scope of health services in our towns
also”, he said in his address from the Red Fort.
“The National Rural Health Mission will be converted into a
National Health Mission which would cover all villages and towns in the
country. “We are also formulating a scheme for distribution of free medicines
through government hospitals and health centres,” he said. NRHM, which is the
flagship programme of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government,
was launched with the aim to provide better health services to people living in
remote areas in India.
“Today this mission is being implemented with the help of 10
lakh health personnel, including 8.5 lak Asha workers,” the prime minister
said. ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activists are local women trained to act
as health educators and promoters in their communities. The prime minister also
said that no new case of polio had been reported in the country in the last one
and a half years. “India does not figure in the list of countries affected by
this disease,” he said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) took India, which in
2009 had more polio cases than any other nation in the world, off its polio
endemic list early this year after not a single case of the crippling disease
was reported for over a year. India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the
four countries where polio is still endemic. He also described malnutrition
among children as a “big challenge”. “We have taken steps in many dimensions to
deal with this problem,” he added.
Source: http://health.india.com
16.08.2012
Pakistan
girl all set to get cochlear implant through Indian NGO
A 20-month-old girl has received another chance at a normal
life. The girl is all set to receive a cochlear implant in India. The procedure
will be performed at Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, thanks to an NGO. The implant
will enable Khadija to hear. Khadija was born deaf to Adnan Adeel and Shehr
Banu in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. “We came to know of the problem
four months after her birth and we were worried about her future,” Shehr Banu
told IANS. Khadija is the couple’s second daughter. Adeel is an electrical
engineer in Karachi.
“I came to know about SAHI (Society to Aid the Hearing
Impaired) through the Internet. I am grateful to them for offering the device
free of cost as a gesture of goodwill,” said Adeel, who arrived here a week
ago. While the device costs $20,000, the surgery expenses will around $5,000 to
$6,000, he said. Hyderabad-based SAHI helps poor children with hearing
impairment. It identifies children mainly in rural areas with little or no
access to modern medical treatment. “We have come to India for the first time
and are very happy to be here,” said Shehr Banu, a housewife.
“I have not felt that I am in some other country. There is
no difference between our two countries. The people, the culture and the
language everything is same,” said Adeel. “We were feeling helpless and were
afraid that our daughter will grow as deaf and dumb. I cried and prayed to
Allah. The Almighty opened the doors, the doors of a so-called enemy country,”
he added. Adeel approached 300 individuals and organisations seeking help for
Khadija. “I am honoured to be the first foreigner to avail charity from SAHI
but I hope I will not be the last.”
“In a state of war all our resources are used on weapons
instead of meeting the needs of poor, hungry and the needy. We need a war not
against each other but against poverty and diseases,” he said. The Pakistani
couple were also guests at a India and Pakistan joint celebrations for
Independence Day, which was disrupted by Vishwa Hindu Parishad cadres. “We are
not enemies. We are friends. If we were enemies we would not have been sitting
like this and jointly celebrating our independence,” he added.
Source: http://health.india.com
16.08.2012
Everything
comes to him who waits
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