Health dept plans to restart drive to stabilise rising population

THE DRIVE WAS STARTED IN 1992 IN ALWAR AND UDAIPUR, AND EXTENDED TO ALL THE DISTRICTS IN 19987-98

JAIPUR: The health department plans to restart Janmangal Karyakram (JMK), a programme to stabilise increasing population, in the state.

Under JMK, a couple of a vill age ( husband and wife) i s selected as Janmangal couple , who interact with the other married couples of the village and distribute means of contraceptives encouraging sterilisation.

This programme was started in Rajasthan in 1992 as a pilot project in Alwar and Udaipur districts and was extended to all the districts in 19987-98, but by 2008-09, this programme was put to an end in the state.

In a meeting held on Friday, heath department additional chief secretary Rohit Kumar Singh reviewing the activities regarding family planning emphasised on restarting JMK in the state.

Department special secretary and national health mission chief Dr Samit Sharma said, “JMK was discussed in the meeting and efforts will be made to restart it.”

The eligible Janmangal couple is selected by the auxiliary nursing midwife (ANM) of the village and final selection is done by the deputy chief medical and health officer at the district level. There is one janmangal couple for a village with population of 200-2000 and two Janmangal couples for a village with population above 2,000.

The Janmangal couple has to be between 25 and 35 years of age, should have used family planning means and should mingle with other eligible couples like a friend. There were 39,605 Janmangal couples working in the state as of March 31, 2007.

The objective of Janmangal couple is that the wife will interact with the married women and encourage them for using spacing methods such as oral pills, intrauterine contraceptive device and sterilisation, while the husband would encourage married men to use condoms and sterilisation.

In JMK, the Janmangal couple is imparted training at the nearest primary health centre by the district level team along with provide family planning means to them, which the couple provides to the other eligible couples in the village.

In the meeting, Singh asked the poor performing districts to get inspired by the districts doing good work.