Swasthya Vidya Vahini to improve rural health

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launched Swasthya Vidya Vahini (SVV), a  first of its kind health education programme in the country, in Vijayawada on Saturday. He said the programme was aimed at developing disease-free Andhra Pradesh. Addressing medical students on the occasion, the Chief Minister said as part of the programme, students pursuing medicine, nursing, home science and psychology would be divided into 446 teams. As part of the 10-month programme, 10 themes have been developed and the students have to visit the villages and create awareness among people on each theme.

The Chief Minister said that the health education programme would help to develop leadership and communication skills among students. He said 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. He said the students would be awarded marks in the field work which would be treated as practicals.

Earlier, the Chief Minister interacted with the students and tested their knowledge on diseases and health awareness. He advised them to work with commitment to reach their goals. Presiding over the programme, health minister  Kamineni Srinivas said medical infrastructure has been improved in state hospitals on par with corporate hospitals,  with the initiative of the CM.  He said the Chief Minister took measures  to improve public health by introducing 30 initiatives in the health sector,  including NTR Vidya Seva. Special principal secretary of health Poonam Malakondaiah and others were present. explained about the Swasthya Vidya Vahini. Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and others were also present.

SVV on a mission to build Swachh AP:

The Swasthya Vidya Vahini 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 of the Swasthya Vidya Vahini (SVV) are educating the public to promote sanitation and hygiene in villages and to build a Swachh Andhra Prad-esh. It also aims to educate people about preventive health care and promote a healthy living style. The students will educate mothers in Anganwadis, the schoolchildren 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.