School Health programme: New software launched in two districts

Stating that it will help doctors update the information pertaining to the students on the software, Dr A Somasundaram, Joint Director, Directorate of Public Health (DPH), said that it will help the government also keep track of the government schools and government-aided school students as well as children from Anganwadis covered under the programme.

He said, “Each block has two teams with doctors screening 70 to 80 children each day. These doctors have to prepare an ATP every three months – which will be submitted to the schools and Anganwadi centres as well. Now, we are piloting the RBSK software and doctors can enter details related to the children on the software to ensure that no data is missed, and the Health Department can track the screening programme.”

As of now, all urban areas, other than those under the Corporation, are covered by the RBSK teams. “We have 15 exclusive teams in Chennai and other teams covering schools and Anganwadis in Trichy, Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Madurai. 

This year, the government has approved three more Corporations - Vellore, Dindigul and Tirunelveli. We are hoping that in the coming years, all Corporations and municipalities are covered so that we don’t miss any government or government aided school or Anganwadis,” said a health official.

It may be noted that the School Health programme, under the Government of India’s programme RBSK, is a child health screening and early intervention services programme implemented in Tamil Nadu in 2015.

Anganwadis in TN   54,439

No of children covered 43,68,807

Govt & Govt-aided schools 45,614

No of children covered 73,40,460