Over 1.6 lakh children of less than five years were administered anti-polio drops in the first phase of pulse polio campaign-2015 on Sunday.
The district administration has targeted to cover 1,72,751 children in the district. According to preliminary reports, at least 1.6 lakh children were covered on Sunday, sources in the Department of Health and Family Welfare said.
C.S. Puttaraju, MP, inaugurated the drive by administering polio drops to a child at Mandavya Higher Primary School in V.V. Nagar, near Kallahalli here, on Sunday morning.
The drive is a part of continuous efforts to eradicate the deadly disease polio, he said.
Addressing the gathering, City Municipal Council (CMC) president B. Siddaraju requested the people to bring their children to the booths established for administering polio drops. H.P. Manche Gowda, District Health Officer, said that the district administration had set up 723 booths and deployed 2,892 personnel at anganwadi centres, government hospitals, primary health centres (PHCs), bus terminals, railway stations and other public places to administer anti-polio drops.
Mandya Deputy Commissioner M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan, municipal commissioner N.M. Shashikumar, vice-president of the Red Cross (Mandya) Meera Shivalingaiah and other officials participated in the programme by administering the anti-polio drops to children.
Meanwhile, members of the zilla, taluk and gram panchayats also launched the pulse polio drive in their respective places across the district.
Government employees and officials of various departments, members of non-governmental organisations too took part in the programme.
