India, Aug. 28 -- Employees working under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) have urged the Maharashtra government to revoke the decision to shift the programme's administrative control from civil surgeons (CS) and medical superintendents (MS) to respective district health officers (DHO) and taluka health officers (THO).

In a representation submitted on August 24, to public health minister Prakash Abitkar, the workers claimed the change could affect the referral and treatment of children requiring specialised medical and surgical care. They demanded that the existing CS/MS control be continued.

Under the RBSK programme children aged 0 to 18 years are covered. The state has 1,196 RBSK teams which screen children in schools and a...