Pune: For parents living in a village, urban slum, or tribal hamlet, a child suffering from breathlessness, hearing impairment, delayed speech, or a visible birth defect often brings psychological fear and financial strain far beyond their reach. However, Maharashtra’s Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) is offering a ray of hope, demonstrating how routine medical screenings at schools and anganwadis can fundamentally alter a child’s health trajectory.The devastating reality of these financial strains was felt deeply by a farming family from Hingoli. When their five-year-old firstborn son, Kunal, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, his parents were left shattered. They consulted several private doctors, but the cost of treatment was quoted way beyond their modest budget. Hit hard by a poor farming season, the family faced a double whammy of agricultural loss and a medical crisis.However, their despair turned to hope when they visited a govt doctor at their nearest sub-district hospital and learnt about the RBSK scheme. A cardiac procedure that would have normally cost them anywhere upwards of Rs 2 lakh was performed absolutely free of charge under the initiative.“Kunal is doing well now,” his elated parents shared. “We are taking all due precautions, but he is recovering smoothly. We are also regularly following up with the doctors, who have been extremely helpful. Thanks to RBSK, our son’s life was saved.”Under the RBSK initiative, 94.9 lakh children were screened between April and Sept 20, 2026. This extensive drive helped medical teams identify conditions early and facilitate immediate treatment, including over 8,000 completed surgeries.According to the RBSK 2.0 performance report released on Sept 23, the drive covered 53.55 lakh school-going children and 41.28 lakh children from Anganwadi centres. Of the total cohort screened, health teams diagnosed 6,58,384 children with various health-related ailments during this period.Highlighting the programme’s vision, Dr Sandeep Sangale, joint director of Reproductive and Child Health (RCH), said, “RBSK specifically targets the early detection, timely referral, and medical management of the ‘4Ds’—birth defects, childhood diseases, deficiencies, and developmental delays—in children from birth up to 18 years. Over the years, we have successfully treated lakhs of children with specialised surgeries worth lakhs of rupees. Crucially, awareness about the scheme has penetrated right down to the rural and Primary Health Centre (PHC) levels, yielding excellent coverage.”Anganwadi screenings registered the strongest overall institutional turnout, with Hingoli district topping the charts by screening 76,450 out of its targeted 78,813 children—a commendable 97% coverage rate. This was closely followed by Sindhudurg at 93%, Dharashiv at 91%, Beed at 90%, and Washim at 87%. Satara also demonstrated a solid performance, securing 85% coverage.In terms of school-based health screenings, Dhule district led the state with a 67% coverage rate, successfully checking 2,26,953 out of 3,40,211 targeted students. Trailing Dhule were Ahilyanagar at 64%, Nandurbar at 59%, Sindhudurg at 55%, and Gondia at 52%. Conversely, Mumbai recorded the lowest turnout in school screenings at just 26%, while Gadchiroli and Nagpur reported 30% and 31%, respectively.The state’s aggressive screening approach successfully translated into actual treatment delivery. Between April and August 2026, the RBSK facilitated 810 completed heart surgeries out of 820 children flagged for critical cardiac procedures. Barring a few pending cases in Parbhani, Ratnagiri, and Nagpur, all other districts achieved a 100% completion rate for identified heart surgeries.Additionally, 7,252 non-cardiac surgeries were successfully executed out of 7,259 cases identified during the same timeline. These medical interventions included corrective procedures for cleft lips, palates, cochlear-implant requirements, and other physiological impairments. Districts like Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, and Amravati recorded the highest volumes of completed non-cardiac surgeries.The statewide programme currently deploys 1,196 mobile health teams that directly visit local educational institutions and daycare centres. Each designated team is composed of two medical officers, an auxiliary nurse midwife, and a pharmacist. To streamline these extensive logistics, the gov’s newly rolled out RBSK 2.0 web portal is expected to further optimise case monitoring, digital referrals, and programme metrics across Maharashtra.
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