Port Blair, Feb 7: Under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command, Coast Guard District Headquarters at Diglipur conducted special ‘Community Interaction Programme (CIP)’ for fishing community of Gandhinagar on 30 Jan 2022. The CIP was conducted in co-ordination with Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, along with reps of department of Revenue, Forest, Fisheries, PMF and Gram Panchayat (Gandhinagar).
During the Community Interaction Program, the focus was to educate the fishermen about importance of carrying life saving gears while venturing into sea for fishing voyage. The fisherfolk were also apprised regarding usage of Distress Alert Transponder and other SOS procedures for seeking assistance of Coast Guard when required. Fishing community were informed regarding 24x7 SAR Help Line 1554 which is a Toll Free Number for seeking SAR assistance at sea. Practical demonstrations were carried out on donning of Life Jackets, operation of DAT, Signal Flare and, portable Fire Fighting Extinguishers. Pamphlets containing information on aspects of safety of life and property at sea were distributed to fishing community.
In addition to the Special Community Interaction Programme a ‘Multi-Specialty Medical Camp’ was also organized in conjunction with team of specialist doctors and medical staff from Community Health Centre (Diglipur) and health workers ex Health Sub Centre (Gandhinagar).
As part of ‘Multi-Specialty Medical Camp’ awareness lectures on ‘Prevention & Management of Tuberculosis’, ‘Benefits of Yoga’ and ‘Health & Immunity’ were conducted. Brochures providing information on GoI policies regarding ‘control and elimination of Tuberculosis’ were also distributed. Fisher folks were also provided first hand training on CPR procedure, ‘first aid’ and ‘fracture fixation’ by medical team of Coast Guard. Screening for dental diseases and ‘oral carcinoma’ by Dental Surgeons ex CHC (Diglipur) was undertaken. Specialist doctors undertook screening for non-communicable diseases along with general health checkup for fishermen and their families.
The conduct of this special Community Interaction Programme and Multi-Specialty Medical Camp by Coast Guard was greatly welcomed by the fishing community and was a huge success.