SKOCH is the highest independent honour given by SKOCH group based on the best practices being undertaken by local administration across the nation
Bikram Sarkar
Cachar district of Assam has been awarded ‘Silver’ under SKOCH at the national level for AASTHA programme. AASTHA is a unique initiative taken by Health Department, Cachar under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner, Keerthi Jalli and by the health team led by Sumit Sattawan, ADC (Health), Dr.S.J.Das, JDHS, Dr. P.Ghosh, Deputy Superintendent, SMC&H, Dr.Dipankar Chakroborty, DNO (DMHP), Rahul Ghose, DPM, NHM, Ujjal Das, DCM and Suman Choudhury, DME.
Keerthi Jalli
The award has been declared by Jury of SKOCH Committee and it has been received by Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli in a virtual award ceremony held on January 16 last.
It is pertinent to mention here that SKOCH is the highest independent honour given by SKOCH group based on the best practices being undertaken by local administration across the nation.
The project AASTHA was launched in the district during July last year.
Project AASTHA has been conceptualised by Rahul Ghose, DPM, NHM with an objective to provide psycho-social support to the quarantine inmates and their families during post lockdown period.
As it has been observed by the district administration, huge numbers of migrants labourers and passengers returned back to their home district from other parts of the country and were quarantined in quarantine centres for COVID testing till the declaration of COVID results. During the quarantine period, few of the inmates developed suicidal tendencies due to fear of COVID-19 affliction and stayed distant from their family members. On receiving such complaints and to address the problems, the initiative was taken by the Health Department at the directive of Deputy Commissioner Jalli.
This project is having two approaches – facility-based intervention: where a team of doctors from Psychiatric Department of SMC&H visited each of the quarantine centres to provide psycho-social services including medicines and under Community based intervention: the ASHAs and front line workers of Health department visited the households of quarantine inmates to provide psycho-social support.
The project was executed by DPM, NHM, with the help of the Psychiatric department of SMC&H, ASHAs and other front line workers under the guidance of SDM&HOs & BPMU, NHM.
