Govt to make health report card of state: Jharkhand CM

Hemant for focus on healthy diets, millets

Ranchi, March 21: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren attended the program organized by UNICEF on “round table on preventing childhood non communicable diseases through healthy diets”.

Addressing the gathering, Hemant Soren said that due to changes in lifestyle, living habits, food habits, environment and genetic reasons, many non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart disease and asthma are rapidly catching people.

“Such diseases are being seen more or less in every household. If we all are not cautious about our health, then such diseases can become a threat to our lives,” said Soren.

The session was organized under leadership of assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly on Friday.

The Chief Minister said that to avoid non-communicable diseases like cancer and heart disease which are becoming dangerous there is a need to bring changes in our lifestyle and focus on the use of healthy diets in food and maximum physical activities.

The Chief Minister said that today various types of diseases are spreading rapidly.

“There should be complete information about how and which people are getting affected by these diseases. For this, there is a special emphasis on making health report card at the state level, so that proper treatment of the disease is possible,” informed Soren.

The Chief Minister said that government is continuously working to modernize and improve the health facilities in the state, so that the disease that people suffer from is identified and proper treatment is ensured.

The Chief Minister said that there are many parts of the state where people are more prone to specific diseases. Diseases like sickle cell and anemia are common in districts like Simdega, while the effect of kala azar is more in Sahibganj and Santhal areas. There are many other diseases which are especially prevalent in people of a particular area. In such a situation, the government is making arrangements for proper treatment by identifying the specific area and the diseases prevalent there, so that the people living in those areas and their future generations can be saved from such diseases.

The Chief Minister said that today new diseases are rapidly catching people. The biggest reason behind this is diet.

“Today, the use of more and more junk foods is making children sick and later on they are also getting many serious diseases. If we want to keep ourselves healthy, then we have to include local indigenous foods (millets) in our diet. Give healthy diets to children instead of junk foods. Today it is very important for us to change our food habits,” said Soren.

The Chief Minister said that many children develop many diseases at birth. If the diseases are not treated on time, the condition of the child can become very bad. In such a situation, it is important that along with proper diagnosis of diseases occurring in newborns, there should be proper treatment immediately.

“The state government is committed to providing better health facilities to every person in collaboration with organizations working in the health sector. Our effort is to provide good treatment facilities to the people living in forests, mountains, foothills and remote areas and voluntary organizations can play an important role in this,” added Soren.