TURA: Marking ten successful years of providing medical health care to the people in remote Babadam region of West Garo Hills, Bakdil NGO organised a colorful celebration this week to honour the men and women behind this commendable work.
Babadam government primary health centre was handed over to the Bakdil NGO by the state ten years back to improve medical care in the rural areas.
Appreciating the efforts of Bakdil and the medical teams of Babadam PHC, North Tura MLA and adviser to the Meghalaya Government, Thomas A Sangma, recalled the gradual transformation taking place in the health sector in Babadam region.
“I remember my visit to Babadam as the then Rajya Sabha MP some years ago when medical care faced many challenges. But now primary health care has been improving significantly in Babadam and we will ensure it continues to rise in the next few years,” said Thomas Sangma while participating in the ten year celebrations as the chief guest.
Pointing out to the importance of Babadam in the context of connectivity to the rest of the region, the North Tura legislator informed the gathering that Meghalaya government has received close to Rs 800 crores for state road and highway construction and one of the new highways would pass through Babadam and connect Phulbari town in the plains and district headquarters Tura.
“The government has also received funding to the tune of Rs. 44 Crores for the establishment of a Tribal Research Institute that will be named after Late P A Sangma,” revealed Thomas Sangma.
Babadam health centre has been awarded the Kayakalp award three times by the health ministry for promoting cleanliness and hygiene and infection control practices in public health care facilities.
Under the Babadam PHC 1431 successful deliveries of children were carried out, as many as 4700 admitted patients got treated while 67000 out patients came seeking medical treatment. Ram Singh has termed Babadam health centre as a model for all health centres.
Applauding the commitment and quality of the medical staff in the discharge of their duties, the additional district medical officer, Dr. J. T. Sangma recalled how her husband, a doctor at Tura civil hospital, was regularly contacted by the first in-charge from Bakdil at Babadam PHC, Sister Veronica Gangte, for providing medical care to complicated cases especially for child birth.
The district MCH officer, Dr. Ivonne Sangma apprised women about the importance of opening bank accounts since mothers can avail a sum of five thousand rupees for the birth of their first two children under the central government PMMSY scheme.
