Guv urges Red Cross to propagate national plans

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 23

Governor KK Paul, who is a former official of the Chairman of the Red Cross Society (Uttarakhand), presided over a general meeting of the Indian Red Cross Committee (Uttarakhand) held at Raj Bhavan here today.

He called upon the society to associate with volunteers to work for propagating the national programmes for health, safety and welfare of the common people.

The Governor said the Red Cross Society was playing a very important role in public service. Its priorities should include mitigating the effects of natural disasters in the state.

He said regular meetings of all district branches must be held so that a proper coordination was established among Red Cross, State Disaster Relief Force, Health Department, local administration and various voluntary organisations.

This will ensure that in emergency situations, victims will get immediate help and available resources would be used fully.

The meeting discussed training, awareness, health facilities for remote areas and setting up of trauma centres in disaster-prone areas of the state. They expressed concern over the gender ratio in Pithoragarh, Tehri and Champawat.

Pithoragarh is the eighth district of the country where the gender ratio is decreasing. For every thousand men, there are only 771 women. The Governor said it was unfortunate and Red Cross would have to initiate active support to improve this ratio.

The Governor said setting up a trauma centre in the state should be a top priority. He said coordination among SDRF, Health Department and Red Cross society was extremely necessary so that there was no overlapping and the expenses by government would be curbed. The SDRF should have contact numbers of all responsible people at the district level.

The Governor suggested that the Red Cross society in the state should contact big industries for support (under CSR) in awareness campaigns for health, cleanliness and other social issues.

It was decided at the meeting that Red Cross would play a role in making available medicines at minimum rates to the public. Generic medicines should be given to people through public health centres as directed by the Medical Council of India. The Governor invited suggestions to improve Red Cross activity.