Sickle cell screening of 4,000 begins in Melghat ashram schools under MECL CSR-funded drive
Students and residents will be tested free in a health and nutrition campaign for the tribal-majority Melghat region, funded by MECL under the Union Mines Ministry.
Images are not validated/verified
A special health screening and nutrition campaign has begun to protect students in the remote, tribal-majority Melghat region from sickle cell disease and to tackle malnutrition. The campaign is being run with CSR funds of Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Limited (MECL), which works under the Union Ministry of Mines.
The campaign is being carried out through the Parivartan Samaj Vikas Samiti. Under it, 4,000 students and residents of various ashram schools in Melghat will be screened for sickle cell free of cost.
The campaign began at the government tribal ashram school at Bijudhawadi in Dharni taluka. On the fifth day, hundreds of girl students of the English-medium girls' ashram school were examined. A team of medical experts took blood samples from the students and tested them for sickle cell using modern equipment.
Sickle cell carriers and patients are being identified during the screening. After the tests, students are being given status cards of different colours according to their condition, in line with the National Sickle Cell campaign guidelines. Students and their guardians are also being counselled, where needed, on the disease, its treatment and prevention.
Every student is being registered digitally before the blood test. Once carriers and patients have been separately identified, they will be given guidance on the disease, treatment, sickle cell testing before marriage in future, and testing of a prospective spouse. Serious patients will be provided free referral services and necessary treatment at the sub-district hospitals in Dharni and Chikhaldara.
The guidance and administrative coordination of project officers of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP), Dharni, have been important in running the campaign. Coordination among ashram school administrations, the health department and the medical teams has given the campaign momentum.
So that students living in Melghat's remote and hilly areas do not have to travel far for tests, the Parivartan Samaj Vikas Samiti's mobile medical team will visit the various ashram schools. After the start at the Bijudhawadi ashram school, screening camps will be held at the remaining ashram schools as per the schedule.
