Bhopal, June 10 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said that President Droupadi Murmu will visit the state to participate in a Sickle Cell Anaemia eradication programme to be organised on June 19.

The programme will be held at a stadium in Barwani, one of the tribal populated districts of Madhya Pradesh, government officials said on Monday.

During his visit, President Murmu will address the programme, and she will also participate in several other events as well.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, who is monitoring Sickle Cell eradication programme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Chief Minister Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla, who also heads the state’s Health and Family Welfare department, will also be present at the event.

“President Droupadi Murmu will visit Madhya Pradesh to participate in the state government’s programme on Sickle Cell Anemia eradication in Barwani on June 19. The Madhya Pradesh government is committed to eliminate the Sickle Cell disease from the state by 2047, a deadline set by the Centre,” Chief Minister Yadav said.

Madhya Pradesh’s health and family welfare department in a statement had recently claimed that it has achieved 100 per cent target by screening for sickle cell of 90,98,902 people till now.

The state has also achieved the top position in the country by registering the achievement of distributing 53,87,892 sickle cell cards, which is 59.21 per cent.

June 19 is observed as the World Sickle Cell Day every year globally.

Last year, on this day, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar had visited Madhya Pradesh and had urged everyone to make efforts to eradicate Sickle Cell Anaemia from the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission at a public programme from Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated district Shahdol in June 2023.

The mission entails focus on awareness creation, universal screening of nearly seven crore people in the age group between 0-40 years in affected tribal areas, and counselling through collaborative efforts of Union Ministries and state governments.

–IANS

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