Puttur gets a free scanning centre for pregnant women

Even as the Endosulfan activists have been demanding for free scanning of pregnant women from Endosulfan affected areas, the crisis has been solved as the government has signed an agreement with a private scanning clinic in Puttur to offer free scanning to all pregnant women from Endosulfan affected villages in and around Kokkada.

The free anomaly scanning is offered under the Central government’s Janani Shishu Suraksha (JSS) scheme where the government hospitals, CHCs and PHCs that lack scanning machines, will tie up with the private scanning centres strictly registered under PCPNDT Act.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Kokkada Primary Health Centre Medical Officer Dr Prakash said that the Kokkada PHC has signed an agreement with Divya Scan Centre, Puttur. The PHC had received the government order over a fortnight ago and the agreement was signed a few days back. As per the agreement, the centre will offer scanning at concessional rates and the government will directly pay the amount to the scanning centre for every scanning done.

All pregnant women belonging to BPL and APL families from Kokkada, Patrame, Nidle and adjoining villages can avail the benefit of free anomaly scanning within 19 weeks of pregnancy. The pregnant woman should first visit the Kokkada PHC, where she will be given a reference slip. The beneficiary has to then go to the said scanning centre on the specified date and produce the slip to the centre for undergoing scanning, the doctor said.

In-charge District Health Officer Dr Ramakrishna Rao said, the scanning provision is not restricted to only Endosulfan areas, but to all the villages across the district. “Under the JSS scheme, anomaly scanning is done for all pregnant women and the scheme is now in the implementing stage. We have begun the process of identifying nearest private scanning centres in all villages, following which an agreement will be signed between government hospitals and the private scanning centres for conducting free scanning,” he said.