The Telangana government is embarking on a rebranding journey by opting to pour ‘old wine in new bottle’ by renaming the well-known ‘KCR Kit’ as ‘Mother and Child Health (MCH) Kit’. While the official announcement is awaited, the new name is already being incorporated in the kits, which are actively being distributed.
Provided to women choosing to deliver babies at government hospitals, the kit underwent temporary masking during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct in November before the Telangana State Assembly Elections. The kit, a bag featuring the Telugu inscription ‘KCR Kit’ and an image of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, had its photo covered with a white paper during the Code of Conduct period.
An official from the Health department explained, “When the MCC came into force, we had to mask the photo. So, we were pasting a white paper on the cover and then distributing it to new mothers.” The Health department is currently in the process of making the name change official.
Meanwhile, a doctor from a government hospital expressed dissatisfaction with the practice of naming such initiatives after politicians. The doctor suggested using a more generic name to avoid disruptions in the process. “Kits that were previously masked are now being distributed with ‘MCH Kit’ written using a marker on the paper,” the doctor said.
Despite the URL retaining the name ‘KCR Kit,’ the official website has been updated to reflect the change. The 2017 Government Order (GO) that introduced the kit also referred to it as the ‘Mother and Baby Kit.’ Comprising 15 items beneficial for both mother and child, the kit includes a financial assistance component of ₹12,000 for a boy child and ₹13,000 for a girl child.
According to the website, a total of 15.24 lakh kits have been distributed since the inception of the programme.