Ludhiana gets ready for second phase of pulse polio

LUDHIANA: To give the final touches to the arrangements of the second round of pulse polio immunization, scheduled to take place on 22nd February, a special meeting of district task force was held at mini-secretariat, on Wednesday evening under the chairmanship of Sumer Singh Gurjar, Additional Deputy Commissioner Ludhiana. The first phase was undertaken on January 4, 2004.
Gurjar informed that fool proof arrangements have been made to give polio drops to 4.87 lakh children falling in 0-5 years age group in the district. For this purpose more than 2100 booths based on around 8800 officials including doctors, paramedical staff, employees from other concerned departments and volunteers of Rotary Clubs and other NGOs were being set up in the entire district.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner said that to cover each and every eligible child of the target age group, about 900 booths would be set up in Ludhiana alone to administer the polio drops to cover 2.50 children and 1200 booths would be set up in the other parts of the district. He said that the extra staff from the education and Social Security departments was being deputed to assist the medical staff in this gigantic task, who would be imparted training by the health department on 20th February.
Gurjar informed that apart from the static booths transit booths/ check posts, including 72 at scattered places and 24 at railway stations would be functional on both the days to cover the moving population. He said that after these two days a follow up program would also be carried out for a week’s time to cover the remaining children in the hidden pockets of the district. He said that special emphasis would be laid in the slum areas where the illiterate laborers reside.
Gurjar said that with a view to ensure the involvement of the masses in this program, a vigorous awareness campaign would also be conducted to educate the people to get their children vaccinated, so that polio could be completely eradicated from the society. He said that the Health department would put up banners and posters in large numbers in all parts of the district.
Dr SN Tiwari said that during the first phase lucky draw was also taken out from the coupons given to first five mothers to bring their child for drops at each booth and three golden rings were being given as prizes. He announced that this time 11 Kashmiri Shawls would be give as prizes to the first five mothers on the same pattern. Dr Tiwari informed that district have been divided into 14 sectors and sector in charges would ensure the complete immunization in their areas by keeping liaison with all the teams working under them.