The first phase of the National Pulse Polio Campaign 2012 will commence in the district on Sunday and the second phase on April 1, District Health Officer O.R. Shrirangappa said here on Friday.
Mr. Shrirangappa told presspersons that 1,65,136 children aged up to five would be covered this year. As many as 921 booths would be set up across the district to administer oral Pulse Polio drops. There would be 21 transit booths in public places such as bus-stops and railway stations. The campaign will also cover migrant population living in slums and construction sites. Reproductive and Child Health Officer M. Rukmini said that a list of construction sites had been obtained from the Mangalore City Corporation and other local bodies. Areas where such people lived had been identified by accredited social health activists and anganwadi workers. Mobile booths would visit such places and administer oral Pulse Polio drops to around 1,427 children, she said. As many as 655 health personnel, 2,012 anganwadi workers, 1,045 activists and 105 supervisory staff would administer oral Pulse Polio drops, she said.
Mr. Shrirangappa said that the last recorded case of polio in the district was in 1999. In 2007, one migrant worker was diagnosed of having polio in Mangalore, he added.
In Udupi
Out Udupi Staff Correspondent reports:
The Department of Health and Family Welfare intends to administer oral Pulse Polio drops to 87,404 children up to the age of five in the first round of Pulse Polio campaign in Udupi district on Sunday.
District Health and Family Welfare Officer Ramachandra Bairy told presspersons on Friday that of the 87,404 children, 39,847 were in in Udupi taluk, 31,658 in Kundapur taluk and 15,899 in Karkala taluk.
The department had set up 637 booths across the district for the purpose. Of the 637 booths, 87 were in urban areas, while 550 were in rural areas. As many as 2,145 volunteers would be manning the booths in rural areas, while 346 volunteers in urban areas, he said.
Special efforts would be made to administer Pulse Polio drops to 1,626 children of migrant workers, including those working in construction sites and stone quarries, by setting up transient booths.
