More than 1,500 government school students in Haryana’s Faridabad were found to be severely anaemic during a continuing screening of children as part of a campaign to make the district anaemia-free.
Faridabad Deputy Commissioner Vikram Singh said around 1.20 lakh students in 378 schools across the district would be screened for anaemia in the first phase of the campaign till November 15. “Almost half of these have been screened and 1,593 students were found to have severe anaemia with a haemoglobin level below 8 g/dl. Twenty beds have been reserved in the district’s B.K. Civil Hospital for those found severely anaemic and attempts are being made to rope in private hospitals as well,” said Mr. Singh. Around half of those screened were found to have haemoglobin levels above 12 g/dl.
He said the campaign would be presented as a case study at the national level and the aim was to make Faridabad a flag-bearer district in work on anaemia.
School teachers, Accredited Social Health Activists and Anganwari workers were given special training for the campaign and camps are being held in schools by the health department to screen students. The AIIMS Delhi too has sent teams to the district for the campaign.
