Ggm: In 6 months, health deptt screens 100K+ kids for pneumonia

The district's winter pneumonia campaign treated over 9,900 children under five, vaccinating 11,712 with PCV, aiming to reduce pneumonia deaths by 2025.

The district’s health department has finalised a report on the annual winter pneumonia control campaign among children below five years, officials said on Tuesday.

The six-month-long campaign, held from November 12, 2025 to February 28, screened 122,960 children to detect pneumonia.

The report, seen by HT, states that around 1,102 pneumococcal pneumonia and 8,853 cold and cough cases of children under five were treated at the outpatient department (OPDs) across health facilities and hospitals in the district.

The six-month-long campaign, held from November 12, 2025 to February 28, screened 122,960 children to detect pneumonia. “Hospitals were provided nebulisers, oxygen cylinders, pulse oximeters and concentrators to treat major cases,” said Dr Lokveer Singh, chief medical officer of Gurugram.

Dr Singh said around 54 children with hypoxic pneumonia or severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) were provided oxygen support under the National Health Mission’s Social Awareness and Action to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully (SAANs) campaign.

“Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), pentavalent (penta-1) and PCV-boosters/MR vaccines were also given to children to prevent measles and meningitis-induced infections,” Dr Singh added.

Officials said no fatalities were recorded during the campaign. In 2024, the department recorded around 6 pneumonia-related deaths among children below five years per 1,000 births in Haryana, with an aim to bring it to less than 3 in 2025.

Dr Jayprakash Rajliwal, deputy civil surgeon and nodal in-charge of the programme, said 11,712 children received PCV and penta-1 vaccination shots each. “Another 11,688 children were provided PCV boosters/MR shots against measles. Awareness campaigns were conducted to detect early signs of pneumonia, such as fast breathing, chest indrawing and pale skin colour,” Dr Rajliwal said.

Meanwhile, the health department had set a yearly target of vaccinating 57,000 children by March 2026. Officials said teams conducted door-to-door visits and highlighted how a healthy diet and timely health checkups reduce the risk of pneumonia.