Pimpri: Recently, a city-based organisation in association with health department of the PCMC had installed sanitary napkin vending machines at four places, but due to lack of awareness among women, they are hardly used. These machines provide napkins at a reasonable cost of Rs 5. So far, around 500 women have benefited from this initiative.
In order to provide sanitary napkins for the women, especially those who cannot afford to buy them from the market, a city-based organisation ‘Aapli Maitrin’ had installed four vending machines in February 2017. If this gets a good response, the organisation has plans to install 200 such machines across the city.
Since the use of sanitary napkins plays a crucial role in the health care of women, the napkins have been provided at reasonable rates through automatic vending machines. Four machines have been installed at four locations which include a ladies toilet of Sulabh International, women’s industrial training institute, a municipal higher secondary school and Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital.
Vikram Bhosale, an official of the NGO, said, “Providing sanitary napkins at nominal charges is the need of the hour because a majority of women who belong to poor families cannot afford to buy sanitary napkins available in the market. But there is a need for awareness about this crucial health-related issue among women. If we get a good response at these four locations, we are planning to install sanitary napkin vending machines at 200 locations across
the city.”
