Attempts are on to cover close to 10 lakh children below the age of five years in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts under the pulse polio immunisation drive to be held between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, January 18. According to GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar, nearly 4,426 centres have been set up to administer polio drops to 5.83 lakh children in Hyderabad and 4.16 lakh children in Ranga Reddy district.
Apart from these permanent centres, there are 115 mobile teams and 226 transit points have been set up to improve the reach of the pulse polio drive.
According to Mr. Kumar, the GHMC has identified 367 high-risk areas, mostly slum settlements, under its jurisdiction where authorities would be taking special care to make sure that 100 per cent immunisation was taken up.
There are nearly 10,000 children below the age of five years in these high-risk areas who have to be covered under the pulse polio immunisation drive.
For those who miss out on Sunday, a special mop-up drive by medical teams of the GHMC between January 19 and 21 will take up door-to-door visits to administer polio drops. The GHMC officials said that there are close to 85 mobile teams only to visit public areas including bus and trains stations, markets and construction sites.
Focus on migrants
Special efforts will be put in to focus on migrant community, nomads, brick kiln workers and labourer families. Health staff, ASHA volunteers, Mahila Mandali members, students and teachers are being involved in the programme.
The GHMC Commissioner urged general public, especially young families with children below five years, to make use of the pulse polio drive.
