Pulse Polio drive to cover 9.73 lakh kids in Punjab

Punjab director, health services (family welfare) Dr Ranjeet Singh Ghotra said the health department has constituted 6,443 teams comprising around 25,000 for the Pulse Polio drive

Chandigarh : The Punjab government is all set to administer polio drops to 9.73 lakh children below the age of five during the sub-national immunization round of pulse polio drive from June 19 to June 21.

The Punjab government is all set to administer polio drops to 9.73 lakh children below the age of five during the sub-national immunization round of pulse polio drive from June 19 to June 21.

A virtual meeting of the state task force comprising various stakeholders was held under the chairmanship of health and family welfare secretary Ajoy Sharma. He informed the meeting that 9,73,938 children between the age group of 0-5 years would be administered polio drops. The department has issued guidelines to ensure the safe conduct of the polio round by adopting Covid appropriate behaviour.

Director, health services (family welfare) Dr Ranjeet Singh Ghotra said the health department has constituted 6,443 teams comprising around 25,000 for the Pulse Polio drive. House-to-house activity will be conducted in the state with special emphasis on the coverage of all high risk areas like migratory children living in factories, brick kilns, slums, bus stands, construction sites and railway stations. These teams will be headed by more than 1,000 supervisors and overall supervision will be conducted by the state level health officials.

Assistant director Dr Balwinder Kaur (EPI) said that although India has been declared polio-free by World Health Organization on March 27, 2014, yet there is risk of importation of polio virus from neighbouring countries where cases of this disease are still reported. “Therefore, effective implementation of pulse polio immunization programme is necessary to safeguard our future generations from this disease,” she said.