One-Stop Centre in All 30 Districts to Odisha to Help Women

Bhubaneswar, Nov 7 (PTI) With the opening of the One Stop Centre 'Sakhi' in Jharsuguda district on Thursday, the Odisha government completed the setting up of OSCs in all the 30 districts of the state to help distressed women.

One-Stop Centre (OSC) is a hospital-based centre to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and to facilitate immediate, emergency and non- emergency access to an integrated range of services including medical, legal and psychological and counselling support, an official said.

"These OSCs are beneficial for the women in distress to get free support services provided by the government in their respective residential districts," said Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti secretary Anu Garg.

The first such OSC was started at Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar in Khurda district on October 1, 2015.

She said the aggrieved girls/ women can access the One Stop Centre by herself or with the help of any other person, through the medical facilities and through rescue by police or helpline.

Garg said the OSC are very helpful for all women affected by violence and girls below 18 years of age can also get the assistance.

The One-Stop Centre provides medical assistance, assistance in lodging an FIR by linkage with the nearest police station, assistance in lodging a DIR (Domestic Incident Report under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005) by linkage with protection officer, Psychosocial support/ counselling, Legal aid and shelter homes run by implementing agency, she said

The centre is operated round the clock with the help of qualified and competent staff such as a centre administrator, case workers cum counsellors, other support staff. Doctors, lawyers and Police personnel will also be available on call, Garg said.

The department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti has provided training to the district officials and staffs for strengthening and better functioning of these centres, Garg added.

The OSC are also regularly reviewed and monitored. These centres work in convergence with hospitals, police, District Legal Service Authority (DLSA), Shelter homes and Odisha State Women Commission (OSCW).

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)