Why is it necessary to make Hb & Blood Group part of admission procedure in Schools & Colleges?
No NGO
can ever hope to reach all the school & college students! Let us take our own example. FOGSI has 187 member bodies. Let
us make it 200 for ease of calculation. Let us assume that each Society conducts one camp daily for 400 days. The total no
of camps of Hb & Blood Group estimation would be 400 into 200 = 8000. Assuming 100 cases per camp, it comes to 8000 into
100 = 8000000.
Pune districts
population is 86 lakhs. This is just one district. India has more than 550 districts. The only way out is to make Hb & Blood Group part of admission
in Schools & Colleges!
Does this mean we have to for go the camp approach?
No way!
Hb & Blood Group camps along with all the other activities have to go on as usual. Making Hb & Blood Group will act
as a starting point for further health inputs. Ultimately it will have to be a compulsory health card, just like the mandatory
ration card. The responsibility for awareness of Basic Health parameters is the responsibility of each & every citizen.
As a largest Specialist organization it is our duty to bring it to the attention of the decision makers.
Is this the only way?
No! Along
with awareness campaigns, our members should be encouraged to make their suggestions. A fresh perspective is needed. It is
high time we remove the stigma of not being able to anything for the Maternal Mortality rate.
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at
results.”
Sir
Winston Churchill
The Story so
far –
It all began in Indore in May 2003. Dr Sunanda
Jain was instrumental in launching the program in a big way at the hands of the then Health minister Smt Sushama Swaraj. The
committee has not looked back after that. We have given such memorandum to Governor’s of MP & AP. Hb & Blood
Group is now compulsory in Pune University & Symbiosis University. Satara, Davangere, Raipur, Pune & Indore are doing all that is possible. However much more needs to be done!
Important Inputs
for Decision Makers –
1. The infra-structure for testing Hb & Blood Group
already exists in Govt set-ups. Advantage - No load on non affording families. No fear of back lash/helmet type reaction!
2. No funding required - Infra-strucutre for Iron Tablets,
deworming too exists!
3. Reaching all over the country possible only thro' this
route.
