MUSHALPUR, March 20 � A district level sensitisation- cum-acknowledgement meeting of the presidents and members of Village Health and Sanitation committees of Baksa district was convened at Mushalpur on March 16 last by the NRHM�s district programme management unit of the District Health Society of Baksa. The initiative is a part of district health communication plan of 2011-12.
A total of 800 presidents out of a total of 931 village health and sanitation committees (VHSCs) of Baksa attended the meeting. The success of the presidents or members of six identified VHSC committees was acknowledged and honoured. The principal secretary of BTC, M C Sahu, chaired the meeting. The joint secretary of BTC, Director of Health Services BTC, Executive Engineer and Asst. Executive Engineer of PHE, Baksa, District TB Officer and Malaria Officer-Baksa also spoke on the occasion.
The Joint Director of Health Services of Baksa district spoke on the role of the committee members to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality in the district through proper participation, ownership and leadership. He also briefly sensitised them on highly preventable disease of diarrhoea to induce basic health conscious behavior and empathy towards the community health.
The Executive Engineer of PHE expressed his genuine interest to work with this unit at the community level in order to effectively implement the PHE projects and spoke briefly on total sanitation campaign (TSC) of PHE. He urged the community leaders to keep an eye and facilitate genuine beneficiaries for sanitary latrines (BPL families) in villages under TSC. On the other hand, the Joint Secretary of Health, BTC R Mushahary announced that the 200-bed district hospital at Mushalpur will be inaugurated shortly. To conclude the principal secretary of BTC gave an insightful review of the meeting. He spoke about the evolution of such a committee under H&FW department and importance of sanitation in development and the crucial role of the community leaders. He briefly apprised them the VHSC guidelines and also encouraged to conduct the convergent Village Health and Nutrition days (VHND) in the villages by throwing light on VHND guidelines.
The meeting witnessed active participation of the VHSC members.The VHSC members who spoke on the occasion includes Debiram Boro of Betabari VHSC, Naokata, Dilip Kumar Boro of Tukra Kochi VHSC, Jawahar Medhi of Dhanbil VHSC and Jatin Chandra Das of Nizjuluki VHSC, Barama.
