Coronavirus | 20,000 women from SHGs to be trained in Odisha

Mission Shakti has been started to check community spread of the infection.

The district administration from Odisha’s Ganjam will train over 20,000 members of Women Self-Help Groups (WSHG) under Mission Shakti and other volunteers to check the community spread of COVID-19 in the district.

Ganjam is experiencing the highest inflow of migrant workers from outside the State. The district has the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases in the State, most of whom are returnees. Till Wednesday, over 80,000 people have returned to Ganjam from other States and the district has reported 368 positive cases.

The massive community training program, named ‘Ama Swathya, Ama Dayitwa’ (our health, our responsibility), has been launched by the Ganjam administration in association with the State government’s Health and Family Welfare Department, Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti.

Under this program, over 20,000 WSHG members and volunteers will be trained in the management of checking the COVID-19 spread at the panchayat level. Trained WSHG members and volunteers will monitor people in home quarantine after the completion of the institutional quarantine period. They will keep a watch on the health of those quarantined and inform the concerned health experts in case symptoms related to the virus develop. Members will also guide inhabitants of their area on the preventive measures to be taken to check the spread of the virus.

The training program was formally launched by Ganjam Collector Vijay Amruta Kulange at the MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur on Tuesday.