Itanagar: Aimed at raising public awareness about family planning, the ‘Saas Bahu Pati Sammelan cum Nayi Pehal kits distribution ceremony’ organised by the Tawang District Health Society (NHM) was held at Khandro Drowa Sangmo (KDS) District Hospital, Tawang on Tuesday, official sources said.
Speaking on the occasion, the in-charge Deputy Commissioner of Tawang, Rinchin Leta said that the Nayi Pehal kits are distributed not only for family planning but for proper gapping between the children that ensures good health and better recovery period for a mother.
He asked the ASHAs and Anganwadi workers to give proper awareness in this regard at the grassroot level. He also informed about the importance and procedures for marriage registration, terming it as a legal tool to shield the bonding of marriage.
District Medical Officer Dr Rinchin Neema said that often family planning tools are not accessible to newly married couples due to economic and social reasons. The government initiated this scheme three years back to facilitate those newly married couples with family planning kits through Sub-Centres and Health and Wellness Centres.
Since the traditional system of arranged marriage is “not popular” nowadays and many marriages begin with live-in relationships, so it was decided to conduct this programme and encourage the already married couples to maintain proper spacing between children, he said and asked the ASHA workers to provide such kits to the newly married couple and educate them for proper spacing for better health of both child and mother, and also to encourage institutional delivery.
Tawang CDPO Dondup Pema highlighted similar schemes under the Women and Child Development Dept. She informed that under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), a cash incentive of Rs 5,000 is provided in three installments through DBT mode to the beneficiaries (pregnant women and lactating mothers) accounts.
Underscoring the importance of marriage registration, she said marriage without registration is not legal. Later, Dr Tenzin Kunga (Gynecologist) briefed the ASHAs and health workers on mother and child health, and the time required for full body recovery of a mother after childbirth, the sources added.
