These services are provided free of cost and children diagnosed with any health condition are treated at government hospitals. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar) As schools across Maharashtra re-opened for classroom teaching on Monday, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope alerted medical teams of the Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram (RBSK) to keep a close watch on any suspected Covid-19 symptoms among students.
RBSK is an initiative by the National Health Mission under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that includes child health screening and early intervention service.
“This programme allows medical teams to visit schools and anganwadis and screen children to provide early intervention in case of any medical ailment. We are utilising their services to also keep a close watch on children at anganwadis and schools, so that if there are Covid-like symptoms among students, early intervention can be provided,” Tope told The Indian Express.
These services are provided free of cost and children diagnosed with any health condition are treated at government hospitals. The state has also empanelled 35 private hospitals in case there is a need for advanced treatment.
There are 1,195 teams of RBSK, which have in the last five years (barring 2020) screened 1.23 crore school children in the age group of 6-18, and 65 -70 lakh below six years of age, for various medical ailments in the state. The programme involves screening of children from birth to 18 years of age for four Ds — defects at birth, deficiencies, diseases and development delays.
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