Prevention, much better than cure

BANGALORE: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore branch along with BGS Global Super Speciality hospital held a free medical camp in Srirampura here on Monday. The camp was inaugurated by H K Kejriwal, the vice chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. K R Niranjan, special commissioner of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was the chief guest for the event. It was held in a BBMP established public school.Around 160 students were screened on the occasion. All students of the school from nursery to class I were checked for weight, height, blood group and other tests in order to ensure prevention of diseases well before hand. The atmosphere was that of excitement as little tots queued up and checked their heights and said, “I’m taller than you” with an amount of pride. City Express talked to a parent of a ward who said, “I am overjoyed. I had not known my blood group my whole life. But now I know that my son won’t live with the same ignorance that I did.”K R Niranjan, speaking on the occasion, pointed out, “The schools are a one- of-a-kind experiment in the country. The economically backward children are, for the first time, exposed to higher education. This will help in the development of the country.” He also added that in today’s world, the need of health education was colossal. With health comes wealth. H K Kejriwal said, “This is the first year that BBMP has started a programme of such nature. I am glad to see the infrastructure facilities of the campus as well as the numerous paintings that adorn the walls. Also by conducting a camp of such nature we are providing health facilities from a global hospital to the people who need them. The introduction of a new health record apart from an academic record is unheard of in government schools. Awareness is important and hence we decided to hold such an event. We will continue to hold such camps. It is also a chance for us to do something good for the society”.As part of the Environment day celebrations all children of the school were presented with a ‘mallige’ sapling thereby encouraging them to grow more trees. Also gracing the event were Venkataramana, a neurosurgeon and vice chairman at the BGS Global Hospital and N Ramanuja, the chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.