Patna, Feb. 19: School students will no more have to grope in the dark on sex and sensitivity. A few doctors of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) have started reaching out to them in their institutions to address their queries on the sensitive issues in a healthy way.
The interactive sessions at the city schools under the Union government’s Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health programme are being organised by a clinic dedicated to the youths — “Yuva Clinic”. It was recently inaugurated at PMCH, beside the department of radiology. Union ministry of health and family welfare is providing funds to the clinic — the first of its kind in the state — under its reproductive and child health programme.
“So far, we have been to four government schools in the vicinity of PMCH but we plan to reach out to all the schools in the capital,” said Dr Ranjeet Kumar Sinha, a senior doctor at the clinic, who recently visited Sweden for a special training on youth friendly health services.
Sinha said about one-fourth of the population in the state were adolescents, but there was hardly any mechanism to help them with the issues they grapple with.
“Adolescents have to deal with a number of sexual and psychological issues but parents and teachers do not encourage them enough to talk about it in a healthy way because of our conservative social structure. As a result, they are often under-informed or misled. Times are changing and our youths are exposed to various things unheard of earlier. So our focus is on helping them understand their body, mind and relationship with others in a better way,” he added.
Under the initiative, doctors go to the schools, talk to the students and prompt them to come up with questions that plague them. As many students feel shy in asking questions in public, they are asked to write their questions on chits and slip them into a drop-box anonymously. Then, experts answer them.
Sinha said steps were being taken to create awareness among youth about the clinic at PMCH so that they could avail free counselling on weekdays between 1pm and 4pm.
“We are providing consultation on all the issues pertaining to adolescence at the centre. Our aim is to remove the myths and misconceptions and to guide youngsters in evolving as better-informed individuals. Since not many know about this centre yet, we are advertising the clinic in schools through posters and banners,” Sinha said.
Several parents welcomed the initiative, saying it would fill in the void because of the quality of interaction between them and their wards. “Many parents are not comfortable talking to their children on issues like sex and relationship with opposite gender as these are a sort of a taboo in our society. It is a wonderful idea to have experts provide guidance to children and help them understand things in a better way,” said Nupur Upadhyay, a mother of two.
