Detection camp held for malnourished kids

BALURGHAT: A special camp to identify malnourished children was organised in Banshihari block on Friday as per instruction of the state Health department.

A health worker Gunja Roy— who was associated with the programme—said: "It was our target to identify the Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) children under Banshihari block.

After identifying the children, they will be sent to nearby Kaldighi hospital in Gangarampur for a special counseling and observation with their mothers for 15 to 30 days. The children will be provided nutritious food."

According to her, the identification of SAM children was conducted through the local ICDS centres of the block.

"In the rehabilitation centre, the children will be provided medicines if necessary. The mother will be provided Rs 100 per day during the period of staying in the rehabilitation centre. The amount will be credited directly to their bank accounts," she said. Child development project officer (CDPO) of Banshihari block Meghnad Kumar Saha said the step was initiated to decrease the percentage of SAM children.

"We have already identified 32 such malnourished children covering 215 ICDS centres. They will be admitted to Kaldighi hospital for rehabilitation with their mothers. At the time of release, they will be provided food-coupons to get low cost nutritious food from their nearest Fair Price Shops (FPS) through the Public Distribution System (PDS) free-of-cost for one year," he said.