The state government has allocated Rs 10 crore as one time Central assistance for the current financial year.

Announcing this on the occasion of Children’s Day today, Haryana Women and Child Development Minister, Kartar Devi said children and women would be provided iron and folic acid tablets once a week.

De-worming would be done with the help of Mebendazole tablets twice a year. She said children would be given doses of Vitamin-A as per immunisation schedule by the auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) in anganwadi centres.

The Department of Women and Child Development would implement the scheme in close coordination with Health Department which will advice them, provide infrastructural assistance and views of experts on doses and frequency of administering tablets.

She said the medicines would be purchased by district-level committees, of Civil Surgeons and Programme Officers of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, to be formed under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner at district level.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer or incharge of Reproductive Child Health Programme would be convener of the committee and district health society would monitor the purchase of medicines and other related health activities at district level.

She said the scheme would benefit about 21.67 lakh children upto six years of age, 4.02 lakh pregnant and nursing mothers and 70,000 adolescent girls in the state through a network of 17,444 anganwadi centres.

Kartar Devi said anaemia was widespread in the country and it especially affects young women, children and adolescent girls.