The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Small family norm campaign pays off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Small family norm campaign pays off

By K.M. Dayashankar

KARIMNAGAR, MARCH 31. The District Medical and Health Department has set a record by performing the targeted family planning operations consecutively since last seven years in the district.

The authorities crossed the target of performing 38,000 operations in the district on Thursday evening at a special mega sterilisation camp organised in Peddapalli and Godavarikhani.

The Karimnagar district has also reached a milestone by performing record number of non-scalpel vasectomy (NSV) operations in the State.

Though, the family planning campaign launched in 1980 in the district, initially it failed to achieve the desired goals due to various reasons.

Priority

In the year 1998-99, the then Collector, Debabrata Kantha, accorded priority for family planning campaign in the district by involving all sections of society and all Government departments.

He constituted cultural troupes to educate people about the importance of small family norm.

In 1998-99, the Government fixed a target of performing 34,000 sterilisations, while the administration performed a record number of 53,261 family planning operations and set a record. Incidentally, the district also set a record by performing 28,784 NSV surgeries during the year.

Team effort

Since then the district never looked back and the same tempo has been continuing among officials as well as people. In 1999-2000, against the target of 34,700 operations, 40,522 sterilisations were conducted. In 2000-01, the number of operations made was 43,023 against the target of 39,000.

From the year 2001-02, a target of 38,000 sterilisations is being every year.

The District Medical and Health Officer, A Anantha Reddy, has attributed the achievement to the team effort.

Eligible couple in the district are highly motivated and the continuous campaign on the importance of small family norm has yielded the desired result.

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