More than 6.5 lakh children between the years of zero and five are expected to be covered in Hyderabad district as part of the nationwide pulse polio programme on January 20. Oral polio vaccine will be administered in 3,200 booths spread all over the district.
GHMC Commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu presided over a meeting of the district task force with the health department officials, non-governmental organisations, hospitals and nursing homes, to discuss the modalities of conducting the programme and to ensure that each and every child is covered in the 18 year of the Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization Programme.
He pointed out that while it was a great achievement that no single polio case was reported since 2009, there should be no let up. The medical officers would visit high risk areas like 1001 slums (792 notified and 209 non - notified) and one polio booth was arranged in each of the slums.
Each polio booth will be handled by four members and a total 12,800 members are involved in the exercise. House to house coverage for administering the vaccine will be taken up by the teams on day two, three and four.
He called for the involvement of residential welfare/ apartment/ gated community associations so that the staff administering polio vaccine would be allowed to move freely. All the regular polling booths will turn into polio booths and 85 mobile teams will be administrating the polio drops to children at the constructions sites, beggars, temporary settlements, markets, temples, churches, gurudwaras, mosques, marriage halls, public parks like Lumbini, NTR Garden, Zoo Park, etc.
Published - January 13, 2013 01:23 am IST
