Pune  – ‘Aastha’ Day Care and Learning Centre was inaugurated at Armed Forces Medical College, Pune by Mrs Madhulika Rawat, President, Army Wives Welfare Association on 02 Nov 2017.

According to Air Marshal C K Ranjan, AVSM, VSM, Director & Commandant, AFMC, the Centre has been created to address the felt need for a child care facility that ensures the safety of a child. Parents can gain real-time access to monitor their children through visual technological interventions. They can leave their children here while they go out to work in AFMC, Pune and the affiliated teaching hospitals, and pick them up on their way home.

According to Maj Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, VSM, Dean & Deputy Commandant, AFMC, the crèche cum learning centre has been established as a joint initiative of AFMC, Pune with ‘Pumpkin Care Day Care Centre’. This centre has been set up in a manner that will ensure that children are kept under expert care with special emphasis on preservation of a hygienic environment, food safety and well-planned systems for first aid, care of children who are not well and evacuation in case of an emergency.  It is a model that can be replicated not only by other institutions and stations within the Armed Forces but also by other organisations where a large number of ladies are pursuing their career.