1.91 lakh kids to be administered polio drops

Tribune News Service

Patiala, January 14

Ahead of the three-day pulse polio drive, the district administration, along with the Health Department, held a meeting with all stakeholders at the District Administrative Complex here today.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Preeti Yadav informed the meeting that they had set a target of giving polio drops to 1.91 lakh children up to the age of five years. The three-day polio drive in the district was scheduled from January 19 to 21, said Preeti.

Giving directions to officials for the drive, she said it was after decades that India was declared a polio-free country, therefore, extra efforts should be put in so that no new case of the disease came up in the district.

Giving details about the preparations for the drive by the Health Department, Patiala Civil Surgeon Harish Malhotra said that as many as 1,836 teams, including 12 mobile teams, had been constituted to administer polio drops. For smooth conduct, 189 health officers would supervise the process, said Malhotra. He added that the health teams would visit all brick-kilns, colonies of labourers, factories and slum areas, besides all places where migrants lived.

Malhotra said on the first day, polio drops would be given at 918 polio booths, while health teams would visit 3.83 lakh households on the remaining two days of the drive.

Health officials said though the World Health Organisation had declared India a polio-free country in 2014, there was a risk of spread of the disease owing to the migration from neighbouring countries.