Health workers from 10 states awarded

Health workers from 10 states, including high-focus Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have been awarded for their contribution in providing effective healthcare in rural India, an official release said here Monday.

Aimed at felicitating the health workers coinciding with the National Safe Motherhood Day, the health ministry and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, India, gave away the annual national safe motherhood awards for health providers last week, the release said.

"The issue of front line health workers are not taken up during elections. People who work at the grassroots providing health services are not given their dues. They are the most critical link, saving lives where it matters most," Sayeda Hameed, member of the Planning Commission said while giving away the awards.

Health workers from 10 high focus states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir and some doctors received the awards, the release said.

In its third year, the awards aim to felicitate exemplary efforts by health workers from across the country, a move to recognize their contribution to reduce Maternal Mortality Rates in the country.