Government Health Schemes for Women & Children

India has a very high population and most of it does not have access to high-quality health insurance or healthcare services. Fortunately, the Indian Government has launched many low-cost and free health schemes targeted towards various sections of society. The State and Central Governments have also launched many health schemes that are specifically aimed at women and children to help them take care of their medical needs. In this article, we’ll take a look at various government schemes for women and children that are in place for people to benefit from.

List of Government Schemes for Women and Children

You can find the list of important government schemes for children and women below:

• Anganwadi Services

  ‘Anganwadi’ is a government-funded scheme that focuses on providing care to children and their mothers at the local village level. This scheme is primarily aimed at children in the age group of 0-6 years as well as their mothers. The Anganwadi Scheme was started by the Indian Government in the year 1975 and it was a part of the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) program. Anganwadi provides basic healthcare facilities to young children and their mothers in villages and is part of the public healthcare system.

• One Stop Centres

  One Stop Centres are a special support scheme for women who are affected by violence in their private or public lives. Women who are facing any type of physical, psychological, sexual, or any other kind of abuse can use women's helplines to access support at One Stop Centres. Affected women would be provided with medical assistance, legal support, psychological counselling, and security against any type of abuse at the One Stop Centres.

• Swadhar Greh Scheme

  The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched the Swadhar Greh Scheme in 2015 to provide institutional and rehabilitation support for women. This scheme is aimed at providing support to those women who have been facing difficult circumstances such as homelessness, violence, abuse, and poverty. The Swadhar Greh Scheme seeks to provide medical assistance, shelter, food and clothing, legal and economic support to help these women get back on their feet.

• Working Women’s Hostel

  The Working Women’s Hostel Scheme was launched by the Central Government in the year 2017. This scheme seeks to provide safe and affordable accommodation for working women and their children who have to leave their homes in the pursuit of their careers. It also aims to provide daycare facilities to the children of the women residing in these hostels. However, only women whose monthly income is ₹35,000 or lower (₹50,000 or lower in metro cities) will be eligible to use this facility. Under this scheme, eligible women can use the hostel services for a maximum period of 3 years. For exceptional cases, the stay duration can be extended to a maximum period of 5 years.

• Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG)

  The SAG or ‘Scheme for Adolescent Girls’ is a Central Government initiative that was launched in 2011. This scheme aims to provide health, nutrition, and educational support to out-of-school girls between the ages of 11 to 14 years. The mission of this scheme is to help these girls in becoming self-reliant and capable citizens and encourage them to pick up vocational training or continue their education. The scheme also helps teach life and home skills to these girls. The scheme has been launched in association with Anganwadi Services under the ICDS.

• Poshan Abhiyan

  The Poshan Abhiyan scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on March 8, 2018, in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. This scheme aims to provide nutritional support for adolescent girls, pregnant women, mothers, and children from the ages of 0-6 years. The Poshan Abhiyan strives to reduce malnutrition, stunted growth, anaemia, etc. in children as well as young girls and mothers. This scheme has been expanded over time to many districts in various states of India.

• Child Protection Services Scheme

  The Child Protection Services Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Under this scheme, support is given to children who are in need of assistance and facing difficult situations. There are several Child Care Institutions (CCIs) that have been established under the CPS scheme to provide education, vocational training, medical assistance, healthcare, counselling, recreation, etc. This scheme covers both rural and urban areas.

To Conclude

If you are a girl/woman in need of medical or any other assistance, you can take advantage of these government schemes to get back on your feet. However, government health schemes only provide a limited amount of support as they have to cater to the needs of a large population. In this scenario, it is better to have your own private health insurance plan that can help you take care of expensive hospital bills and medical costs. If you do not yet have health insurance, you can check out the health plans available at Bajaj Markets and choose one that suits your needs. 

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