Punjab minister launches polio immunisation drive

Tribune News Service

Mohali, September 20

The state Health Department will immunise around 7 lakh children in high-risk areas across the state during the three-day polio vaccination drive.

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu stated this today while launching the three-day sub-national immunisation day drive by administering oral polio vaccine drops to children aged below five at nearby Jujhar Nagar village.

The state-level programme was organised by the Health and Family Welfare Department, Punjab.

Addressing the gathering, Balbir Singh Sidhu said the drive would cover only high-risk areas, migratory population, brick-kilns, construction sites and urban slum areas. Health workers had been directed to ensure compliance of all necessary guidelines such as covering their faces with a mask and washing their hands frequently during the drive.

Sharing the details about various teams engaged in the drive, Sidhu said: “The target is to administer polio drops to around 6,80,800 children across the state, for which 8,436 places have been identified. A total of 5,530 door-to-door teams have been pressed into service while there are 656 mobile teams. The total number of vaccinators, ANMs and ASHA workers is 14,749, 3,097 and 11,965, respectively, whereas 1,031 supervisors will carry out sudden checks to monitor the immunisation programme and ensure that all children are immunised.”

The Health Minister appealed to people to get their children vaccinated to save them from various diseases. He said the country was already free from polio. However, vaccination is must to sustain polio eradication from the country. He applauded the efforts of thousands of volunteers, frontline workers and health officials for conducting the drive in these unprecedented times.

Director Health Services (Family Welfare) Dr Prabhdeep Kaur Johal asked panchayat members to extend full support to the Health Department in this campaign. Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh was also present on the occasion.