Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jun 17 (PTI) The district administration of Beed in Maharashtra has decided to appoint ‘Arogya Mitra’ to address the health concerns of women sugarcane workers and their children by acting as a liaison agent with the government agencies, a top official said on Tuesday.
This ‘Arogya Mitra’, which literally means ‘health friend’ will be chosen from among the women sugarcane workers, he said.
Thousands of women relocate from Beed to other districts during the sugarcane cutting season every year. The sugarcane crushing season generally begins in October/November and ends in March/April and cutting is done simultaneously.
Talking to PTI, Beed Collector Vivek Johnson said, “We are going to appoint Arogya Mitra from this year who will be from among the sugarcane cutting labourer women going for cutting sugarcane in other districts of Maharashtra. The labourers go from Beed to other districts and cannot remain in touch with the administration here. As a result, the problems they face during and after relocation remain unaddressed.” “Hence, in order to meet these issues of women and their children below five years of age, we are going to appoint Arogya Mitra. This person will be given training and will remain in touch with the ASHA workers as well as Anganwadi workers in Beed. They can inform us about their issues and we can help them address these issues with the local administration where they are working at that time,” he said.
A survey for the purpose is underway, the collector said, adding that the number of Arogya Mitras to be appointed will be decided later.
“We shall start their training probably in August,” he added.
Meanwhile, as per a survey conducted last year, 78,746 women went to other districts from Beed to cut sugarcane from August to October 2024. Of them, 34,151 women were below 30 years of age, 1,523 women were pregnant and the pregnancy of 135 women was in the category of risky, another official said.
Of these total women, 843 underwent surgeries related to uterus. But these surgeries were not carried out immediately before the sugarcane cutting season, he said. PTI AW NP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.