Union minister Nitin Gadkari at the World Tribal Day programme organized by state tribal department at Vanamati, on Tuesday

Nagpur: On World Tribal Day (August 9), Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) launched project BLOSSOM in Nagpur in the presence of Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari.
As part of this project, the health university along with state tribal directorate, Gondwana University in Gadchiroli, and Laxmanrao Mankar Memorial Trust, will conduct health screening of over 11,000 people living in select 18 tribal villages of Nagpur, Gondia, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts.
MUHS claimed the project will be biggest tribal health surveillance exercise by any health university in the country.
This screening will go beyond a general check-up and will identify persons with breast cancer, liver and lifestyle diseases, sickle cell disease, sexually transmitted infections, osteoporosis and malnutrition (hence the acronym BLOSSOM). In the second phase, the data collected will be analysed, and plans will be made to ensure better health care for the tribals.
Gadkari, while launching this project, said benefits of quality health care must reach to the last person in the society. “This is not an easy task to reach the tribal people. Road connectivity is still a major barrier. Building roads in tribal areas is a task. We have to face many obstacles from forest and environment fronts,” he said. He hoped this unique initiative by MUHS will be a valuable documentation of tribal health in Vidarbha and will help in finalizing the health strategies for these areas in future.
MUHS vice-chancellor Lieutenant General (retd) Dr Madhuri Kanitkar briefed about the project. “In coming three months, around 22 teams will screen tribals across 18 remote villages. An associate professor will head the team of graduates, post-graduates from medical colleges under MUHS and along with ASHA workers to conduct a thorough screening,” she said.
This will be an important academic research for the Nagpur centre of MUHS, said coordinator and well-known orthopaedic surgeon Dr Sanjeev Choudhary. “Nagpur regional centre of MUHS has tied up with the tribal development department for the project. We are looking forward to have this project as a game-changer in the tribal health scenario,” said Dr Choudhary.
Being an academic research project, a chair of excellence was also installed for this. Dr Dilip Gode, former VC of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, will be the head the chair of excellence.
Vice-chancellor of Gondwana University Dr Prashant Bokare, president of Laxmanrao Mankar Trust Arun Lakhani and trustee Sudhir Diwe, additional tribal development commissioner Ravindra Thakre, Dr Ajit Saoji were present along with the who’s who from Vidarbha’s government and private health care fields.
BLOSSOM in tribal Vidarbha
* BLOSSOM stands for: Breast cancer, liver and lifestyle diseases, sickle cell, sexually transmitted infections, osteoporosis, and malnutrition — population will be screened for these diseases
* Three wings: Chandrapur-Gondia; Deori-Gondia; and Ramtek-Parseoni — six villages in each wing will be covered; separate teams constituted for screening
* 22 teams: An associate professor in GMC, graduates or PG student from colleges under MUHS and ASHA worker will be in teams
* Data analysis: After 3 months of this exercise, data analysis will be conducted and plans will be suggested to ensure better health care for tribal areas