To mark World Population Day, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Monday said that educating women and providing them employment could play a significant role in controlling the population. “When every woman becomes literate, aware of her responsibilities and knows her duties and rights, she will naturally play an important role in population control,” he said.
The Health Minister was presiding over a state-level function organised by the Health Department to mark the culmination of month-long awareness activities that commenced on June 27 to mark World Population Day, which falls on July 11. The function was organised at Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) at Mohali.
Dr Balbir Singh said that although the situation in Punjab is quite good in terms of population control, still more efforts are needed in this direction. He said that maternal deaths and female foeticide are major concerns.
He directed the health department officers to make concentered efforts to completely stop female foeticide from the state. He also announced to reward the districts, which have been working hard to eradicate female foeticide.
he Health Minister said that the state government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been strenuously working on all these issues, but, only a change in the mindset of people could help in eradicating these social issues.
On this occasion, State Program Officer Dr Aarti explained in detail various methods of family planning for population control. She said that World Population Day is celebrated in two fortnights.
During these fortnights, besides raising awareness about various methods of family planning, people were sensitised about the disadvantages of late marriage, the reasonable gap between the birth of two children. During the function, districts including Barnala and Amritsar were specially awarded for their best work in the field of family planning, while, Doctors, staff nurses, ANMs, multi-purpose health workers and ASHA workers from across the state were also honoured with certificates of appreciation for doing exemplary work.
Principal Secretary Health Vivek Pratap Singh, Secretary Health cum MD NHM Dr Abhinav Trikha, Director Health Services Dr Adarshpal Kaur, Director Family Welfare Dr Ravinder Pal Kaur, Director ESI Dr Seema, Principal AIMS Mohali Dr Bhavneet Bharti, Assistant Director Dr Vineet Nagpal and State Program Officer Dr Arti were among the prominent who were present on the occasion.