Health cards for students soon, says minister

TNN / Aug 12, 2006, 23:41 IST

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The state government is considering banning sale and consumption of gutka, cigarette and tobacco.

Health cards for students soon, says minister

DHARWAD: Close on the heels of banning cola and 11 other soft drinks in schools and hospitals, the state government is considering banning sale and consumption of gutka, cigarette and tobacco.
Primary and secondary education minister Basavaraj Horatti told reporters here on Saturday, he would convene a meeting of officials concerned and take a decision.
The state government, he added, would provide health cards to 67 lakh children studying in government schools this year. The cards will be issued from September 21 and formally distributed on Children's Day (November 14).
Horatti added, all private medical, dental colleges and nursing homes in the state would be involved in the scheme drawn on the Gujarat model.

"A child admitted into a school will be given this card and it will remain till he/she completes schooling. The cardholder will be eligible for health check up and medical treatment at subsidised rates.
The facility will be extended to the aided private schools in a phased manner." Karnataka will be the second state after Gujarat to implement this scheme, he added. Grant-in-aid, he said, would be allocated to 62 P U colleges run by SC/ST managements.

The government is also considering providing grant-in-aid to nearly 300-plus private schools started before July 31, 1992. On the decision to sanction more high schools to North Karnataka, Horatti said: "In the past, the area has been deprived of the facility.
All that the government is doing is adhering to the Nanjundappa Committee's recommendations."
When asked about allegations made by former chief minister Dharam Singh that constituencies represented by Janata Dal (S) MLAs had been favoured while sanctioning high schools, Horatti said: "Our decisions has been to make things convenient for the students".

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