Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 21: Governor N. N. Vohra, President of the Indian Red Cross Society, J&K, has stressed the need for building a large pool of volunteers and much larger participation of people from the grass root level upwards to make Red Cross activities more meaningful.
He exhorted the Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu Divisions and all the Deputy Commissioners to create an environment for mobilizing resources for the humanitarian activities of the Society, including organization of more Red Cross melas, particularly at the district level.
Referring to the valuable services rendered by Red Cross during disasters, he said that sustained support from public and private organizations is required to enable it to discharge its duties effectively.
The Governor was chairing the 173rd State Managing Committee (SMC) meeting of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), J&K State Branch, held at Raj Bhavan, here today. Bali Bhagat, Minister for Health also participated in the meeting.
The Governor appreciated the programme launched by the IRCS for providing First Aid Training to the commercial vehicle drivers and police recruits. He observed that many more medical training camps should be organized on a regular basis to train people in first aid and other life saving techniques which could help save precious lives in the case of any emergent situation till specialized medical assistance becomes available to the needy.
It was decided that Finance Secretary shall take a meeting involving all concerned to finalize the plans for Red Cross Complex, Srinagar, by June 30 so that the work can commence thereafter. The surplus space in the proposed complex would be offered for commercial activities to generate resources.
The Governor directed both the Divisional Commissioners to identify the Red Cross volunteers who deserve awards for their humanitarian services and very early forward their names to the SMC. The Governor directed the Hony General Secy, IRCS, to bring out an annual calendar of Training Programmes for the training of State and District Disaster Response Teams.
While reviewing the present status of the Jan Aushadi Scheme, the Committee stressed the need to create wide spread awareness about the availability of generic drugs at fixed prices from the Jan Aushadi Generic Drug Stores which are being run by the Red Cross in the State. The medicines made available in these stores are at the rates prescribed by the Bureau of Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India which in most cases are significantly lower than the market rates of branded medicines. The SMC directed the Deputy Commissioners of all the districts to urgently appoint Pharmacists to man the Jan Aushadi shops.
The Managing Committee confirmed the appointment of M.S Rather as Honorary General Secretary IRCS State Branch.
P.K Tripathi, Principal Secretary to the Governor; R.K Goyal, Principal Secretary, Home; Navin K. Chouhary, Commissioner Finance; Rohit Kansal, Commissioner PWD; Sarita Chouhan, Commissioner Social Welfare; Dr. Mandeep Bhandari, Commissioner Health and Medical Education; Asgar Hassan Samoon, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Maj. Gen. N. Srinath, Commandant, Command Hospital; Simrandeep Singh, Deputy Commissioner Jammu; Sheetal Nanda, Deputy Commissioner Samba; Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner Udhampur; Ramesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Kathua; Danish Rana, IGP, Jammu; Prof. Nusrat Andrabi, Honorary Secretary, Regional Red Cross Committee, Kashmir; A.M. Mir, Prof. Mohd. Abdullah Charoo, Prem Gupta, Y.V. Sharma; Seema Shekhar, Members of the State Managing Committee participated in the meeting.
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