Two high school students from the district have been admitted to Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, with diphtheria, and another student is under observation at Government Medical College, Manjeri.
Mohammed Hidash, 14, son of Usman Thuravakkadan from Kuzhimanna, near Kondotty, and Mohammed Sinan, 13, son of Abdurahman Muthuvalloor from Nellikkuthu near Manjeri, were confirmed to have contracted diphtheria.
District Medical Officer (DMO) K. Sakeena said that their condition was stable, and there was no reason for panic. Dr. Sakeena said that enhanced immunisation cover in the district had prevented the children from having major complications. She said an all-out effort was being made to take vaccination up to an optimal level.
ADVERTISEMENT
The third boy, Rinshad, 13, son of Shamsuddin Pelathodi from Kodur, near Kottakkal, is under observation at Medical College, Manjeri, with symptoms of diphtheria.
All of them were inmates of a private orphanage at Papinippara, near Manjeri. Health officials said that the students had been partially vaccinated. However, they could not confirm if the students had been given the full course of DPT vaccine, which is mandatory for children below five years of age.
The Health Department has begun counter measures to check the spread of the disease. Those who had come in contact with the three boys at the orphanage were given TD (tetanus-diphtheria) vaccine. “It is meant to contain the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Sakeena.
ADVERTISEMENT
She said yet another aggressive push would be needed to enhance the immunisation coverage in the district to 95%. With an immunisation cover of 67%, Malappuram had remained a blot on the State’s health map till 2017. The vigorous campaigns conducted in the last two years in the wake of a few diphtheria deaths raised the immunisation mark to 92%.
“It (92%) was a great achievement pulled off with the concerted efforts of various departments and different sections of society. We ought to push harder to ensure that at least 95% of the district’s population is immunized against such deadly communicable diseases,” said Dr. Sakeena.
According to the DMO, in spite of the augmented efforts to immunise the children, the backlog of those who have gone unimmunised is quite huge in the district. “That backlog will get minimised over a period. Until then, there is a chance for even immunised persons to contract the disease. But it will not be harmful,” said Dr. Sakeena.