Odisha issues guidelines for holding health camps

About seven weeks after detection of use of bi-cycle pumps at a sterilisation camp, Health and Family Welfare Department in Odisha has issued guidelines for holding of such health camps making prior permission mandatory.
Any organisation seeking to hold camps for health check up, sterilisation procedures, cataract operation and diagnosis must obtain prior permission by applying in a prescribed manner at least one month in advance, official sources said.
The state government, which had imposed restrictions on sterilisation camps after it was found that bi-cycle pumps were used on women at a camp in Angul district in the last week of November 2014, came out with safeguards, they said.

As per the guidelines issued by Health Secretary Arti Ahuja to district collectors, the organisers need to apply in prescribed format at least a month in advance to the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) or Additional District Medical Officer (Public Health), an official release said.
It said any organisation seeking to hold such camp must be a registered body - as a society or Trust, under Company's Act or any other Act or professional bodies like Indian Medical Association or Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological and Societies of India.
Thereafter, a District Quality Assurance Committee (DQAC) would examine the proposal for such camps and verify the background of the organisations, requirement and feasibility of the health camps in the proposed location based on disease burden, Ahuja said.

Facilities to be provided during the camp including space, drinking water, sanitation, crowd management and electricity, would also be assessed by the district committee.
Technology to be used in the health camps, such as diagnostic and procedural, would also be examined, sources said adding after proper study the DQAC would issue approvals to the applicant for holding the camps.
The guidelines aim at putting in place a proper system and structure for according approval and supervision of such camps which are held with or without government funding, the health secretary said.