Rajannapet village in Sircilla is now covid resilient

Over 1,300 residents of Rajannapet in Rajanna Sircilla district were administered vaccines

Hyderabad: In four days, over 1,300 residents in Rajannapet of Rajanna Sircilla district were administered Covid vaccines. During the last three months, over 1,500 rural healthcare workers were trained in Covid-19 best practices, hospital and patient management system was developed and essential equipment, including PPEs, oximeters and thermometers were supplied.

All these measures have now transformed Rajannapet into a Covid resilient village. The mammoth task of administering vaccines from July 26 to 31 and training the rural healthcare workers was performed by Project Madad, a citizens’ initiative. With an aim to help rural residents counter Covid 19 crisis, Project Madad, a voluntary group of doctors and professionals from India and from the Indian diaspora, worked in their personal capacities in association with the government.

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Under a pilot project, a five-pronged model, including empowerment and equipping of rural healthcare workers, countering covid misinformation in the vernacular language, innovative methods to encourage socially responsible behavior and increased vaccine acceptance, use of technology to address specific dimensions of the covid-challenge and targeted delivery of vaccines, was adopted.

Over the last three months, Project Madad’s team shared globally-proven Covid-19 best practices with over 1,500 rural healthcare workers and launched rural citizen- friendly websites, including a real-time map for hospital-rural patient management system MadadMaps.com and MadadCare.com.

Sharing more details about the project, Project Madad – Project Lead Raja Karthikeya during a virtual press conference said as part of the pilot project a set of four houses were identified as a grid. Each member in the house was checked and vaccine was administered to them as per their eligibility. A comprehensive data about testing and vaccination of residents, including persons, who were ineligible for vaccination (patients and others) was developed and shared with the district administration, he said adding that this data can now be accessed by Public Health Care units in containing noncommunicable diseases.

Rajannapet Sarpanch M. Shankar said two days prior to commencing the vaccine administration, 10 teams of Asha workers, Anganwadi members and volunteers campaigned extensively in the village. They sensitised residents on the need for vaccination, cleared their apprehensions and educated them about covid 19 guidelines, he informed.

These initiatives now serve as a model for every village in the country and a detailed report on the project will be submitted to the Central government shortly. Already, Nepal and another country and Maharashtra and Uttarakhand State governments have evinced interest in emulating the project to contain covid spread, said Raja Karthikeya.

The vaccines were funded by Light A Life – A First American Foundation and provided by Ripples of Kindness Foundation in association with CallHealth. With the first dose vaccine administration done, Project Madad is now focusing on second dose vaccine administration in Rajannapet.