iTV Foundation and Reckitt Benckiser India to invest Rs 15 crore each for the health drive mission.
Maharajganj: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated a two-day health checkup camp (18-19 August) against Japanese encephalitis in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday. The camp was organised by the iTV Foundation, the corporate social responsibility wing of the iTV Network, India’s fastest growing media and infotainment network. It was supported by Reckitt Benckiser India (RB), the world’s leading consumer health and hygiene company. iTV Foundation and Reckitt Benckiser announced an investment of Rs 15 crore each for the health drive mission. Yogi Adityanath also met encephalitis patients and interacted with their kin, present at the health camp.
Held at ITM College, Chehari, Maharajganj, several dignitaries including Amar Nath Upadhaya, District Magistrate, Maharajganj; Kartikeya Sharma, Founder & Promoter, iTV Network; Vinay Srivastav, Chairman, KMC Digital Hospital; Dr R.P. Tripathi, Vice President, Indian Medical Association, Uttar Pradesh and Ravi Bhatnagar, Director-External Affairs & Partnership (AMESA), Reckitt Benckiser India, were present at the health camp inauguration ceremony.
During the health camp, Reckitt Benckiser India, under the flagship Dettol Banega Swasth India introduced a programme with ASHA workers, focused on enhancing awareness and bringing behavioral changes in families to prevent diarrhoea in cities of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Engagement with children and their families is a crucial component of this programme; hence it committed to train 2,50,000 local ASHA workers who will act as educating agents/frontline health workers propelling the importance of sanitation and hygiene as a regular practice. The ASHA workers will introduce hand wash by Dettol, as accessibility of product is highly imperative to practice sanitation. Reckitt Benckiser India will also set up missed call IVR services in Uttar Pradesh to ensure counselling and guidance as and when required. The partnership programme was also supported by Jagran Pehel. While inaugurating the camp, Adityanath said: “I would like to congratulate the iTV Foundation for their positive mission to fight and eradicate the deadly disease. In the past 40 years, thousands of children have died due to Japanese encephalitis; the previous governments and authorities have failed to take action that resulted in a massive outbreak. But we started a revolution to eradicate the disease. We have created an internal committee for taking several measures and precautionary steps. Free medical facilities will be provided to encephalitis patients.”
The Health ministry also did training sessions with nursing staff, paramedics and ASHA workers. Adityanath further added that the mortality rate of encephalitis patients has been reduced in recent times. There is a strong need to create awareness against the disease, as healthy people will make a healthy nation, he said.
Kartikeya Sharma, Founder & Promoter, iTV Network, said: “Our mission is to provide better health facilities and create awareness about health and hygiene among the people in remote areas. Japanese encephalitis is a deadly disease and it is important to eradicate the disease and take precautionary measures. We are aiming to organise more such camps in future that will benefit the people of our country.”
Ravi Bhatnagar, Director, External Affairs & Partnership (AMESA), Reckitt Benckiser India, said, “Health is the catalyst to social change and one of the most critical areas of empowerment for young children. With a vision to create awareness around sanitation and health, RB has embarked on an ASHA programme which will engage with children in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The objective is to provide mobile-based health awareness and education service in the space of diarrhoea prevention and ASHA community and capacity building with content consumption and gratification.”
Thousands of people from the district and nearby villages attended the camp and availed of the facilities from morning till evening. A specialised team of doctors of KMC Digital hospital Maharajganj, including pediatricians, lung specialists, gynecologists, general physicians and trained nursing staff of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), was present to examine the patients. The doctors provided medical consultation and distributed free medicines to the patients. The dedicated team of iTV Foundation supported and managed the on-ground activities and created awareness about Japanese encephalitis in the district.