GURGAON: In a year, door-to-door surveys under the governments Nirogi Haryana scheme for economically weaker sections have so far screened 31.6 lakh people. The main health issues affecting the population, according to the surveys findings, are anaemia, tuberculosis, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. In children, its malnourishment and low birth weight.The programme, under which health check-ups will be conducted at least once every two years, aims at quicker identification to reduce the burden of disease. Haryana has a target of screening 1.2 crore people with an annual income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh.So far, over 1.7 crore tests have been carried out across Haryana. Nearly 3.5 lakh people have been found to be suffering from various diseases — 1 lakh people have anaemia, 49,671 are suffering from hypertension, 35,994 have diabetes, 4,194 have cardiac diseases, 2,391 have been detected to have tuberculosis and 346 have cancer. While 3,554 children have been found to be malnourished, 511 had low weight at birth.Gurgaon has screened the maximum people so far at 1,90,348, followed by Karnal (1,82,241), Ambala (1,78,509) and Kurukshetra (1,68,775).Health workers visit eligible people for conducting check-ups and guide them to the designated facilities for comprehensive tests. The state government is planning to create health packages to strengthen the process, said Dr Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer.The identified population has been categorised into six age groups for check-ups. While category 1 covers infants up to six months of age, category 2 covers children aged six to 59 months. The third category includes children aged five to 18 years, while category 4 covers the 18-40 age group and category 5 the 40-60 age group. Those over 60 years of age fall under category 6.Announced by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2022, the Nirogi Haryana scheme was launched by President Droupadi Murmu in Kurukshetra in November last year. It was decided that in the first phase, the families with an income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh would be screened, while the rest of the population would be covered in subsequent phases.Team leaders have been identified in every district, who act as coordinators and facilitate the drive. Details like family history, immunisation status and history of contact with TB patients are collected from every beneficiary, apart from check-ups.If a disease or ailment is diagnosed and can be treated at the available facility, the doctor writes a prescription that can be disbursed. In case the patient requires a specialists opinion, they are referred to the nearest sub-divisional hospital. The drive also includes mandatory screening for haemoglobin levels, neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes.

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