Hansot: Two Smart Anganwadi Centres were launched in Hansot taluka of Gujarath recently,(On Friday, 22 April 2022), under the auspices of District Development Officer Shri Yogesh Chowdhary and other key government officials. The Anganwadi Centres in Utraj and Dhamrad villages have been renovated and equipped with tools to ensure a safe and positive learning environment for young children and adolescent girls.

These renovations were completed by Project SAAHAS in collaboration with Kaka-Ba Hospital. SAAHAS, which stands for Strengthening Access and Awareness of Health in Hansot, has been working in the region to reactivate key health schemes that safeguard child and adolescent health and nutrition. Spearheading the project is Dr. Bharat Champaneria, Trustee, Indrashil Kaka-Ba and Kala Budh Public Charitable Trust, a CRS initiative by Cadila Pharmaceuticals.

Also Read: Kaka-Ba hospital: New hope for rural people with severe disability 

“This project has made inter department convergence very easy and strong. All schools are giving Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplements (WIFS) to students on regular basis. This had helped in reducing anaemia among boys and girls and cases of malnourishment have also decreased,” said Shri Yogesh Chowdhury, DDO, Bharuch, who has been providing his continued guidance to Project SAAHAS to ensure that all children in the block receive the care and nutrition they require. “I request all Gram Pradhans to get associated to this initiative and make it a replicable model in other geographical areas. I have seen that most of the initiatives are focused on infrastructural development, but this is a unique model which focuses on physical as well as social development,” he added.

Dr. Champaneria, who was present at the event, has been an important figure in the block, having spent over thirty years working to provide quality health care to local residents at Kaka-Ba Hospital. “The key to successful implementation is collaboration between government, technical experts & CSR. I humbly request you to come forward & work together to make this district & block a model of excellence for the future,” said Dr Champaneria at the launch event.

Global Health Strategies and Kaka-Ba Hospital have been working in close collaboration with Government of Gujarat for the last year to strengthen the health and wellbeing of communities in Hansot. With a strong focus on the health and nutrition of child and adolescent, Project SAAHAS has successfully reactivated key government health schemes that aim to protect child health. One of their major priorities has been to strengthen Anganwadi Centres.

Among other officials present at the event was Taluka Development Officer (TDO), Dr. Alpana Nair. Dr. Nair has been instrumental in driving progress in the block, to improve the health and nutritional status of children. “I have received a lot of insights and information on health and education ever since project Saahas has started. They have brought together all the departments, keeping in mind inter departmental convergence sharing their issues on daily basis and making this block stronger,” Dr. Nair said.

Mr. Ghemal Singh Prabhubhai Patel, Taluka Pramukh, Hansot, made a special address at the event. “We request all the parents to send their children to Anganwadi Centres on regular basis and make the best use of the facility,” he said.

Following the speeches, a ceremonial handover of the keys of the Utraj Smart Anganwadi Centre was conducted with Anganwadi Worker. A tour of the newly refurbished AWC was conducted. Besides tools such as LED TV screens, improved sanitation and hygiene facilities and storage capacity, the centre had also been equipped with creative communications materials to inform students about good health practices, nutrition and overall development. The renovations at Smart Anganwadi Centres, will allow workers to best utilize available resources and schemes and ensure that children at the centres have access to a safe, healthy, and productive environment.

SAAHAS has been conducting trainings with Anganwadi Workers every month since October 2021, to increase their interpersonal skills and ensure efficient communications with parents and caregivers. This training has been critical in convincing caregivers of children with health issues, such as Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), to take urgent and proactive steps to seek timely health care. SAAHAS also reactivated Anganwadi Centre health screenings, which had been disrupted for over two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Scoliosis is a disorder of the spine, and its surgeries are generally done only in large hospitals in big cities. Kaka-Ba performs scoliosis surgery on 17-year-old Surat girl. Girl from Surat has undergone surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, a disorder in which an abnormal curvature of the spine appears in late childhood or adolescence, at Bharuch’s Kaka-Ba hospital, which is run by Cadila Pharmaceuticals’ CSR arm.

Dency Akbar, a resident of Amroli in Surat, was detected to be suffering from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis 4-5 years back. Instead of growing straight, her spine had developed a side-to-side curvature and was turning into an ’S’ shape. “Dency was in extreme pain because of the disorder for some time. Her deformity had also started to worsen, which is why we decided to perform the surgery on her spine. This technically demanding surgery and not the normal spine surgery, Hence, we used the  Neuro monitoring System for the surgery, a high end instrument which helps/ guides the surgeon to avoid any damage to nerves”  says Dr. Alpesh  Patel of Kaka-Ba Hospital.

“This was a technically demanding and rare surgery, but we accomplished it successfully. The X-rays also show the difference in the shape of the spine, which is straight now,” he added. The cost of the surgery was approximately Rs. 5 lakh, but Dency’s family did not have to pay any money, as the entire cost was covered under the central government’s Ayushman Bharat scheme.

While the surgery has changed Dency’s life, it is also a big achievement for Kaka-Ba Hospital. Kaka-BA hospital is established by the visionary founder of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited, Shri Indravadan A Modi to provide quality healthcare services at affordable cost to the poor. Kaka-Ba hospital has been instituted in the memory of his cousin who died due to typhoid due to lack of medical facilities at Hansot, a small village in South Gujarat.

About Scoliosis

Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine that most often is diagnosed in adolescents. While scoliosis can occur in people with conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most childhood scoliosis is unknown. Most cases of scoliosis are mild, but some curves worsen as children grow. Severe scoliosis can be disabling. An especially severe spinal curve can reduce the amount of space within the chest, making it difficult for the lungs to function properly.

Children who have mild scoliosis are monitored closely, usually with X-rays, to see if the curve is getting worse. In many cases, no treatment is necessary. Some children will need to wear a brace to stop the curve from worsening. Others may need surgery to straighten severe curves.

Its symptoms include:

• Uneven shoulders
• One shoulder blade that appears more prominent than the other
• Uneven waist
• One hip higher than the other
• One side of the rib cage jutting forward
• A prominence on one side of the back when bending forward
• Deformity increase- lung capacity decrease
• Hampers overall growth

 “Scoliosis surgeries are very risky and are generally done only in large hospitals in big cities by or under the close supervision of highly qualified super-specialists. That Kaka-Ba Hospital was able to perform the surgery successfully speaks volumes about the quality of our doctors and healthcare personnel, and the advanced technology and equipment available,” says Dr. Bharat Champaneria, Trustee of Indrashil Kaka-Ba and Kala-Budh Public Charitable Trust, which runs the Kaka-Ba hospital.

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