TN to take polio drive to doorsteps


Chennai: Tamilnadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday launched the intensified pulse polio immunication campaign.

Stalin administered polio drops to a child to formally inaugurate
the campaign in the presence of Health Minister Ms.Subramanian, Health
Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan and other officals.

Over the next three days, healthcare workers would visit the residences of those babies which were left out during the campaign today to administer the vaccine.

A detailed awareness on the pulse polio vaccination campaign was also held in all parts of the State.

About 57.61 lakh children in the age group of up to five years, including 5.52 lakh in Chennai, are expected to be covered during the immunisation campaign in the State.

Health department officials said Tamilnadu remained a polio-free State
for the last 18 years since 2004.
At the national level, no case of polio was detected since 2014, thanks
to the immunisation drives conducted for 27 years by involving NGOs like
Rotaries.

On Sunday, the camps were held in 43,051 places in the State. While 40,368 of these were permanent booths, there were also 1,474 transit booths, 696 mobile booths in construction sites, brick kilns, remote hilly areas and places where Narikurava families reside and 513 booths in private hospitals.
About two lakh government employees were involved in the campaign.

Apart from health department staff, this included anganwadi workers and
teachers.