Maharashtra: Students to get health card, free surgeries and app to track wellness

In a major step towards improving the health and well-being of school children, the state government has decided to issue personal health cards to all students studying in government, aided and anganwadi schools in the state.

A dedicated mobile app will also be developed to collect and monitor the health data of students, which will make it easier to track their medical needs and treatment.

The initiative will benefit about 1 crore children below the age of 18. It includes regular medical check-ups and guarantees full medical assistance in case of illness under the National Child Health Programme of the central and state government related schemes.

Students diagnosed with serious illness or disability during these check-ups will be provided free treatment, including surgery, if required.

The Government Resolution (GR) published on April 29 said, “The decision was approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by the then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in January 2024. As part of this programme, a health team comprising two doctors, a nurse and a health assistant will visit schools every month and conduct inspections. The findings of these inspections will be uploaded on the newly developed health app, which will ensure that the health data of every student is digitised.”

Special district-level committees have already been set up in Nandurbar, Gadchiroli, Osmanabad, Thane, Beed, Jalgaon, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nanded and Solapur to implement and monitor this programme.

Now the government has decided to set up similar committees in all the remaining districts with a structured inspection schedule at the district and taluka levels.

The responsibility of ensuring 100% attendance of students during health check-ups has been entrusted to the school principals. They are required to inform the parents in advance and maintain records of the health status of the students, treatment given and follow-up care through an online tracking system.

Coordination with local health authorities will be required to facilitate transportation of needy students to taluka or district hospitals and further treatment.