Apprehending a high risk of polio virus importation from Pakistan, Punjab has decided to immunise nearly 36 lakh children up…
Statesman News Service | Chandigarh | March 31, 2017 12:33 pm
Apprehending a high risk of polio virus importation from Pakistan, Punjab has decided to immunise nearly 36 lakh children up to five years during the second round of National Immunisation Day falling on April 2.
Announcing this on Friday, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra said 70,000 vaccinators and 3,000 supervisors had been deputed to cover all children in the state. He appealed to parents to immunise their children to protect them from polio. "Polio campaigns were being periodically undertaken in the entire state as Punjab is at a high risk of polio virus import from endemic countries, especially Pakistan", he said. He also said the districts at risk are Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Mohali and Sangrur, where migrant families reside.
Mohindra further said 15,000 booths had been set up statewide to cover the entire infant population. He said special house teams had been formed which would go from door to door to administer vaccination. These teams would be supervised by nearly 3,000 supervisors, he added. He said that besides conducting Special State Level Monitoring on these districts extensive efforts have been made to strengthen the activity in migrant families, as a large chunk of children in Punjab (20 per cent) belong to migratory families. He said that this National Level Campaign against polio in all the districts in the state will be monitored by state observers under National Polio Surveillance Project.
Another newborn has died in the fire that broke out at Jhansi Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College on Friday last. With this he number of newborns killed in the fire has reached 12. On the other hand, a government team has also arrived to investigate the incident here on Monday.