Bhopal/New Delhi
Launching the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission (NSCAEM) from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said it will become a key mission of Amrit Kaal to safeguard the lives of Scheduled Tribes, the most affected with the disease in India. As many as 2.5 lakh children and families are affected by the Sickle Cell Disease in the country.
Highlighting that India accounts for half the total number of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) globally, while the Prime Minister exhorted all stakeholders to work in tandem, he hit out at the Governments in the last 70 years for not taking the health menace seriously. With Assembly polls in five States namely Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana — all with considerable tribal population — later this year, Modi sought to reach out to them saying he himself comes from a background not very different from the Adivasi community with which he has spent considerable time.
Pointing out that he knows how painful the Sickle Cell Disease is and how it destroys an affected person and his family, Modi repeated what Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya suggested earlier in his address: Whether or not you match the kundali (horoscope) of the girl and the boy before marriage, ensure that the result of their SCD screening are matched to ensure their new-born doesn’t have the disease which is genetic — transferred from parents to the child.
The Mission was to be launched on June 27 but it was postponed due to heavy rains on the day, when the PM launched five new Vande Bharat trains. The Mission will cover 278 districts in 17 States wherein 7 crore persons, mostly Adivasis, in the age group of 0-40 years will be screened and provided with a colour coded card by 2025-26. The PM also launched a Sickle Cell National Portal on the occasion and released guidelines for the management of the disease and different modules for its monitoring.
Saying that the biggest beneficiaries of the Mission will be the Gonds and Bhils besides other Adivasi communities, the Prime Minister pointed out how cases of Kala Azar, Malaria, Leprosy and Brain Fever registered a drastic decline ever since his Government came to power in 2014.
Hitting out at the Congress and other Opposition parties, trying to take on Modi unitedly, the Prime Minister said the tribals need to beware of those giving false guarantees. People who themselves have no guarantee are coming to you, he said adding those promising freebies have one or the other vested motives. He said, “Family-centric parties including Congress are hobnobbing together.
On the occasion, the Prime Minister also electronically distributed 3.57 crore Ayushman Bharat Cards with Madhya Pradesh alone accounting 1 crore of them. Modi said the Ayushman Card is like a Rs 5 lakh ATM card and no one can deny treatment if it is shown and used anywhere in India.
He pointed out that already 5 crore persons have been treated through the Ayushman Bharat Card which would have cumulatively incurred Rs 1 lakh crore had they not have a card.
Prime Minister Showcasing Ayushman Card As Rs 5-Lakh ATM Card
SIDELIGHTS
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced countrywide celebrations of Gondwana queen Rani Durgawati’s 500th birth anniversary on October 5 and release of a commemorative coin and postal stamp besides a film on her inspiring life. She valiantly defended her empire from the Mughals.
- Giving facts about the incidence of various diseases, the Prime Minister said in 2013, there were 11,000 cases of Kala Azar, now they have been reduced to less than a 1000, there were 10 lakh cases of Malaria which have now come down to less than 2 lakhs in 2022. Similarly, leprosy cases have come down from 1.25 lakh to 70-75,000.
- Later, the Prime Minister visited Pakaria village in Shahdol and interacted with tribal leaders, self-help groups, PESA committee leaders and captains of village-level football clubs.
