Guwahati: The Assam Health and Family Welfare Department will organise a massive state-wide immunisation campaign to administer COVID and other routine immunizations to those who were left out of the inoculation process during the normal drive.
A review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday in Dispur decided to hold immunisation drives across the state from October to March to bring all sections of the population, including children, under the immunisation programme.
Chief Minister Sarma stated that under this special drive, children who were unable to receive routine immunisation due to the COVID 19 pandemic would be given vaccines based on medical advice.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister also requested that the Health Department implement a digital system for issuing birth and death certificates.
He said that the system should be such that the parents would receive the birth certificate upon discharge from the hospital and next of kin would get the death certificate immediately.
Sarma also stated that a robust organ transplant network system will be developed in the state to facilitate organ transplantation.
He also stated that a good and responsive organ transplant system would aid in the saving of many precious lives. Steps will be taken to encourage people to donate blood voluntarily.
Chief Minister Sarma stated that in light of the reported cases of maternal mortality in tea garden areas, special awareness drives for voluntary blood donations should be conducted in tea garden-dominated areas.
Moreover, the National Health Mission (NHM) will host a three-day Swasthya Utsav with the active participation of 1000 volunteers, 500 of whom will be from the health sector and 500 from other fields. Photographs of the Swasthya Utsav should be uploaded to the live App.The Swasthya Utsav would highlight issues like drinking water and access to health infrastructure which are important for the delivery of health care facilities.
The meeting also decided that NHM will have at least five regional offices in the state, each led by an ACS officer and assisted by other domain experts. The team will work to improve health indicators in their respective jurisdictions.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister stated that the NHM will assess the state’s inaccessible areas and work with the PWD to build good quality roads to make health care services more accessible.
During the meeting, Sarma also stated that the Health and Family Welfare Department would collaborate more closely with the Social Welfare Department’s Women and Child Development sector to make the nutritional centres more vibrant for women and child health.
Assam Medical Services Corporation Limited (AMSCL) will be restructured to expand its footprints across the state and run pharmacies in hospitals where medicines will be made available to patients at reduced rates.
According to the Chief Minister, the Food Safety Commissionerate, will be restructured in order to activate its revenue-generating activities.