Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The tall claims of health department officials about performing well in the ongoing Dastak campaign fell flat when Indore was found occupying the last-third position among all the districts of the state in relation to coverage of the campaign.
The health department officials in Bhopal had also expressed displeasure over Indore’s performance in the campaign meant for children’s health during a review meeting which took place a couple of days ago.
According to the data presented during the review meeting, Indore stands at third-last position in the table of worst-performing districts, following Bhopal and Khandwa.
Surprisingly, Indore division’s Alirajpur district is the best-performing across the state, while Jhabua, too, has managed to get a place among the best-performing districts.
Under the ‘Dastak Abhiyan’, which was started on July 18 and will run till August 31, health workers are going from door to door to identify common diseases among children under the age of 5 years and provide immediate help for, and management of, the problem. The teams are also supposed to spread awareness among the residents regarding childhood abnormalities, malnutrition among children and nutrition for newborns.
The department has a target of covering 4 lakh children in Indore district.
Only 14% of kids screened
According to the health department’s records, officials in Indore district could cover only 48 per cent of the total number of villages; they have a target of covering about 532 villages, but only 257 could be covered.
Similarly, only 14 per cent of the children could be screened, while only 14 per cent of the children could get the vitamin A supplement till August 16.
Only 3% malnourished kids could be identified
Health department officials in Indore have a target of identifying 2,536 severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children in the district, but only 64 could be identified in one month of the drive.
Only 6 per cent anaemia screening among children, too, exposed the campaign’s poor reach.
Most population in the urban areas
According to health officials, in big districts, such as Indore, the population is mostly in the urban areas. The districts lagging in campaign are those having over 20 lakh population.
‘Most of the population in Indore remains in the urban areas, while we also have more population than the other districts. We’re trying to reach the maximum number of children and will try to cover the gap as soon as possible. The data will also be updated on the portal as more children are being covered in the past few days,’ the health officials said.
