PANJIM: International Girl Child Day was observed by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), State Family Welfare Bureau (SFWB), Directorate of Women and Child Development (DWCD) at the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) auditorium recently.
The 104 Helpline service was launched under the Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) scheme, under which pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick newborns will be able to avail free healthcare service.
The function also had the distribution of prizes to the winners of advertisement films on ‘Gender Equality’, namely Santosh Shetkar (1st prize), Sangharsh Volvoikar (2nd prize) and Sainath Usgaokar (3rd prize).
DHS also organised short video clips on the theme ‘Importance of Girl Child for Government Workers. The winners included Uuenda Fernandes (1st prize), Sanjay Salelkar (2nd prize) and Mukund Malgaonkar, (3rd prize).
Further, the dignitaries released a poetry book titled “Let me Live and Shine”.
Health Secretary V V J Rajasekhar, Director of WCD Deepali Naik, Director, DHS, Dr Ira Almeida, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Rajendra Borkar and State Head of GVK EMRI, Sushma Saini were present on the occasion.
While addressing the gathering Rajasekhar said everyone has an equal right in Goa.
“Various programmes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, International Day of Girl Child, Poshan Abhiyan and various departments like WCD work towards improving the situation of the girl child. DHS and DWCD have to work hand in hand for greater achievements,” he said.
The event concluded with screening of award winning short films.
