Shillong, Dec. 2: The week-long Intensified Mission Indradhanush Programme 2.0 and Matru Vandana Saptah under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) were launched on Monday in the State.
The State launch was held at Ganesh Das Government MCH Hospital, Lawmali, Shillong wherein Chairperson, Meghalaya State Commission for Women, Theilin Phanbuh and Chairperson, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Meena Kharkongor attended as Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively.
The main objective of these two programmes is to ensure reaching the unreached with all the available vaccines and thereby accelerating the full immunization and complete immunization coverage of children and pregnant women of the State.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0, the mission mode immunisation programme that follows the highly successful Mission Indradhanush, is being rolled out from today, December 2 till December 9, 2019. The programme focuses on all children up to two years of age and pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the immunisation programme.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit program run by the Government of India. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth. It provides a cash maternity benefit Rs. 5000/- in three instalments, ie., Rs. 1000/- on registration, Rs. 2000/- on first Check-up, Rs. 2000/- on first cycle of immunization and birth registration of the child and around 700/- on delivery in a Government Hospital.
Speaking on the occasion, Smti. Phanbuh said that mothers have a huge role to play to build a healthy society so it is important to take the opportunity to utilise these government programmes for their own benefit and their children as well. She said that mothers in the rural areas are apprehensive to take benefit from these government programmes due to fear and misconceptions. Therefore, she called upon the health service providers to travel extra mile to create awareness and explain about the benefits of the health schemes.
Smti. Kharkongor said that right to survival is one of the fundamental rights of the child where a child needs a healthy home, healthy parents and healthy environment. She expressed concern that children, especially in rural areas are deprived of health care and vaccinations due to lack of information about the importance of these vaccinations. She called upon the health workers in the field level to take the information to the grassroot level so that children can lead happy and healthy lives.
