Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has launched an unique and ambitious programme intending at developing a disease-free Andhra Pradesh, first of its kind in the country `Swasthya Vidya Vahini’. This will be implemented from January 1.
This programme will be implemented by the health, medical and family welfare departments by involving the students of medical, dental, Ayush, nursing and home science colleges. There are 24 medical colleges in AP out of which 11 are government medical colleges and 13 private ones with 15,000 students. There are 15 dental colleges in the state out of which two are government colleges and 13 private colleges with 5,000 students.
The objectives include educating the public to promote sanitation and hygiene in villages and to build a Swachh Andhra Pradesh. It also aims to educate people about preventive health care and promote a healthy living style. The students will educate mothers in Anganwadis, the school children and villagers regarding healthy living.
The state has approximately 3.5 crore rural population with each district having an average population of 25-30 lakh. There are 277 mobile medical units with a vehicle and four staff members. Each district is having 18-20 mobile medical units. Chandranna Sanchara Chikitsa units (mobile medical vans) offer services at nodal points which are usually gram panchayat headquarters, once in 30 days.
The daily roster of students to visit the villages shall be coordinated by the director of medical education and Vice-Chancellor, Dr NTR University of Health Sciences and the registrar of NTR University of Health Sciences. All the students were urged to work for the improvement of people’s health in the rural hinterland.
The Chief Minister is hopeful that the health education programme would help to develop leadership and communication skills among students. As per design of the programme, the students have to prepare a health profile of the village and inform the officials over the reasons for the spread of diseases and remedial measures. The students are assured that they would be awarded marks in the field work which would be treated as practical’s.
