Kolkata, July 13 (IANS) In an attempt to involve the girl children in the red-light areas of the state in the recently initiated cervical cancer vaccination drive in West Bengal, the state health department has decided to provide this vaccination to the girl children in the red-light areas absolutely free of cost.

The initiative on this count will begin with the vaccination drive at Asia’s oldest and biggest red-light area, Sonagachi in North Kolkata. The project will be run by the state government in association with the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a non-governmental body working for the welfare of the sex workers and their children in the Sonagachi area.

The state Health Minister, Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee, who is himself an acclaimed medical practitioner, has sought a list of girl children in the Sonagachi area within the age bracket of 14 and 15 years from the said committee.

Durbar secretary Bishakha Lashkar informed mediapersons on Monday that the state Health Minister was present at the 31st anniversary of the foundation of Durbar on Sunday, where he sought the list of girl children from the area within that age bracket for inclusion under the cervical cancer vaccination drive, and that too free of cost.

At the same time, Lashkar said, the state health department had also decided to install condom-vending machines in the Sonagachi area free of cost.

On Sunday, the Durbar authorities also felicitated those children of the sex workers in the Sonagachi area who had appeared for the Secondary and Higher Secondary examinations this year. At the same time, financial assistance was also given to the aged sex workers, who have been out of the profession for quite some time because of their age.

Last week, the state health department also announced its plans to reach the doorsteps of all girls’ schools in the state and organise cervical cancer vaccination camps there. Before organising these vaccination camps on the campuses of the girls’ schools, the state government will take consent from the guardians of the students studying in those girls’ schools.

–IANS

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