Pulse Polio awareness rally organised

In order to ensure the success of the upcoming Pulse Polio Round scheduled to start from tomorrow (Sunday), the Health Department organised a district-level awareness rally here today. The rally was held to spread awareness about the importance of polio vaccination.

Students from Madan Lal Dhingra Nursing College, Chief Khalsa Diwan International Nursing College, NRI Nursing College and SGRD Pandher Nursing College, along with urban ASHA workers, participated in the rally with great enthusiasm. To spread the message widely, an auto-rickshaw awareness campaign was also flagged off, which will move across different parts of the city carrying messages about the Pulse Polio programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Swarnjeet Dhawan said although India has been declared polio-free, these rounds are still organised under the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to maintain the country’s polio-free status. “Public cooperation is essential along with the efforts of the Health Department to completely eliminate the risk of this incurable disease,” he said.

He added that all arrangements have been completed for the upcoming round. Health officials and workers have been instructed to ensure that no child under five years of age is left out from receiving the two drops of life-saving polio vaccine.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Bharti Dhawan said during this round, a total of 2,97,250 children aged between 0 and 5 years will be administered polio drops across the district. She added that for this purpose, 1,407 teams have been formed and their work will be supervised by 291 supervisors.