Three-day pulse polio drive kicks off

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 18

In its effort to maintain a polio-free district, the health authorities started a three-day special migratory pulse polio campaign here on Sunday. Under the programme, children of those who migrated from Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh will be given polio drops. 

Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared India a polio-free country in 2014, there was a risk of the spread of the disease due to migration as 11 cases were registered in 2018 in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the first day, the Health Department administered polio drops to 13, 206 children in the district. The Civil Surgeon said they would administer polio drops to 24, 811 children living in urban areas.

The Civil Surgeon informed that 183 teams had been constituted to administer polio drops. As many as 19 health officers will supervise the process. Health teams will visit all brick-kilns, colonies of labourers, factories and slum areas besides all those places where migratory labourers live. 

 Dr Sudha Grover, District Immunization Officer, said, “We are aggressively targeting the mobile and migratory population.”