Rohit Shishodia
Doctors have emphasized the need to give priority to the health of school students.

On the sidelines of a seminar on school health in Delhi, Prof Jugal Kishore, Head and Director, Department of Community Medicine, Safardjung Hospital, Delhi, told DTMT, “If we talk about Delhi, more  than 40 lakh children study in schools run by the MCD, NDMC, Delhi Government, Central government and other government departments. However, we have very few health specialists, specially ENT specialists and dentists, at the two designated centers of the Delhi government.”

“These specialists work with 64 teams of School Health Service Scheme. If look at these numbers, these teams are only able to tackle 350 schools which is not 10% of the schools. The numbers are miniscule and point to ignoring of school health care. Hence, there is need for concrete efforts by the education department to boost healthcare ,” added Prof Kishore.

Prof Kishore pointed out that school health is crucial because if a child is not healthy and is not able to go to school, then everything is gone in spite of availability of education. Nation requires educated people and schools play a significant role. School cannot run without health. Health department wants to deliver health in schools because it is its mandate to do it.

He said that education department’s mandate is not health and that is a problem. Education department has to understand that health is at the core of the education system. That is why both have to come together and collaborate for betterment of school health. Both departments have to have separate budget for it.

“Any bad habit, including tobacco and alcohol consumption, can be tackled at schools level. It requires a major focus. The country needs control of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancer. These problems can be tackled at school level,” explained Dr Kishore.