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Sonia lauds Karnataka's dynamism in development

By Our Staff Correspondent

Suttur, (Mysore dist.), Sept. 2. The Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi, praised the Non-Governmental Organisations and religious leaders for their role in implementing social welfare programmes and said they made a positive difference to development work initiated by the Karnataka Government.

She was launching the telemedicine facility as part of the "Model Health Village Programme," a joint venture of the JSS Mahavidyapeetha and Narayana Hrudayalaya.

Ms. Gandhi said although the Government had funds, the involvement of swamijis and NGOs made a difference to the implementation of the schemes. "Every time I come to Karnataka, I am struck by the dynamism and dedication of the people in taking up novel programmes for the masses. Wherever I go in North India, I always mention how people in Karnataka never fail to come out with development programmes and ask them to emulate this."

Ms. Gandhi called for similar initiatives elsewhere so that people in rural areas had access to good healthcare.The three-month programme is intended to address the health problems of the villagers. Said to be the first such initiative in the country, the project is expected to make Suttur India's first "Health Village" and benefit more than 5,000 people in and around Suttur.

The project entails the creation of a healthcare database of all people in the village through a house-to-house survey. The database will be used for planning health care interventions on a large scale and every villager will be issued a health card with identification, which will be useful to provide health insurance in future.

The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, who presided over the function, said the major health initiative launched by the Government, the Yashaswini Health programme, was a success and covered 16 lakh farmers in the State. Already more than 5,000 farmers had constituted a cooperative society with a monthly contribution of Rs. 5 to ensure coverage of major surgical intervention when necessary.

Devi Prasad Shetty, chairman of the Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore, said the latest facilities rarely available even in parts of Europe, would be available to the people of Suttur village.

Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji of Suttur Math said the healthcare programme was a befitting way to celebrate the 88th Jayanthi of his predecessor, late Sri Shivarathri Rajendra Swamiji.

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