Being the pioneer in the Pulse Polio Program, Delhi is regarded a role model and it would continue to strive hard to completely eliminate polio, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said on Saturday while launching another round of Pulse Polio campaign by administering anti-polio drops to children in a simple function organised at Delhi Secretariat.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Dikshit urged all parents having children up to 5 years of age to take them for immunisation to the polio booths. She said Delhi Government has made elaborate arrangements for administering anti-polio drops to the children during its program on Sunday.
Ms. Dikshit informed that the in the last phase of Intensified Pulse Polio Immunisation Program that was successfully implemented on August 9 and as part of which a weeklong house-to-house “Search and Immunization” drive was also carried out, around 24.77 lakh children were immunized and more than 47.29 lakh households were visited.
The Chief Minister said it would be ensured that no virus of polio could enter Delhi. She said for making a strong nation it was necessary to have strong children and this would only be possible with the success of the Pulse Polio Program. ``Our State has shown better results in this field. Delhi initiated Pulse Polio immunisation program in 1994 and launched house to house 'Search and Immunisation’ in 1999.
Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia said 8,000 polio booths would be established on Sunday for administering polio vaccine to the children up to five years of age. She said around 30,000 workers and employees of the Health Department would be deployed to ensure maximum reach of the program from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Besides, stall would also be set up at the railway stations, ISBTs, public places, major temples, Metro stations, Millennium Park and Delhi Zoo for the program.
Apart from this, a door-to-door weeklong survey would also be conducted under search and immunisation Pulse Polio Campaign. In this, around 17,000 workers in 9,200 teams would visit different colonies including slums and jhuggi jhopri clusters to administer Pulse Polio drops to children who could not be administered the drops on Sunday.
