Udupi Deputy Commissioner G. Jagadeesha on Saturday asked the Departments of Women and Child Welfare and Health and Family Welfare to train children’s counsellors on priority basis to help health professionals in treating children in case of a third COVID-19 wave.
Speaking at a meeting of different committees of District Child Protection Unit, the Deputy Commissioner said that those counsellors should mingle well with children and prepare them to receive the COVID-19 treatment with confidence.
He said that all child care centres in the district should appoint counsellors. The services of social work and psychology students interested to work as children’s counsellors should be utilised. Their services should be utilised in COVID-19 call centres and in telecounselling. Such students should also be trained on the ways of helping the health professionals while treating children.
The Deputy Commissioner said that enough awareness should be created on the availability of children’s helpline 1098.
Training sessions should be held for school principals, headmasters, Accredited Social Health Activists, Panchayat Development Officers, and senior Health assistants in helping treating the children injected with the virus.
The Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Udupi Sheshappa said that 28 child care centres in the district had 132 children.
Speaking at another meeting of the Department of Women and Child Welfare, the Deputy Commissioner instructed the police to take cases pertaining to missing of children and women seriously and take steps to trace the missing persons.
He said that some police personnel could be deputed exclusively to detect such missing cases. If investigative officers did not take the missing cases seriously the missing women and children will be at the risk of inviting many problems.
The Deputy Commissioner asked the department officials to check whether all private and government offices have set up in-house committees to address the complaints of harassment by women employees.
He asked Education Department officials to inform the District Protection Officer in case if any school going children of migrant workers found not attending the classes for more than 10 days consecutively.
