Tirupati: 4.72 lakh children administered polio drops on first day
TTD Chief Medical Officer Dr A B Narmada administering polio drops to a child before Sri Vari Temple in Tirumala on Sunday.
Tirupati/Chittoor: The National Immunisation Day (NID), commonly known as Pulse Polio Immunisation campaign has been held across the nook and corner of the district on Sunday. The programme was aimed at eliminating poliomyelitis in the country by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus.
It was earlier scheduled for January 17 but has to be rescheduled in view of the Covid vaccination drive and the three-day programme will continue till February 2 covering all children. District Collector D Markandeyulu formally inaugurated the programme in Chittoor by administering polio drops to children.
About 4.96 lakh children of 0-5 years of age will be given the drops in the massive programme. For this, 2,984 centres and 124 mobile centres are arranged where 12,184 staff are taking part to administer the drops.
The medical staff will go door to door on February 1 and 2 to give drops to those children who were not brought to polio centres on Sunday. DM&HO Dr M Penchalaiah and District Immunisation Officer Dr C Hanumantha Rao also took part. The DM&HO said that on the first day 4.72 lakh children were vaccinated which is 95.16 per cent of the target.
TTD authorities have made elaborate arrangements for the programme to facilitate pilgrims and Tirumala locals to administer the vaccine to their children. TTD Chief Medical Officer Dr A B Narmada has formally launched the programme at Sri Vari temple.
In Tirumala alone, 25 centres were opened for the purpose out of which 21 centres including Sri Vari temple were earmarked for pilgrims while the remaining four are meant for locals, she said. TTD also arranged another six centres in Tirupati. In all, 2922 children were vaccinated in these centres.
Joint Director for Health Dr T S R Murthy has given the drops to a child at Municipal Corporation Health Centre in Tirupati and kick started the programme.
Corporation health officer Dr Sudha Rani, Deputy Commissioner Chandramouleesawara Reddy, Additional DM&HO Dr C Aruna Sulochana Devi also participated in the programme.
Dr Sudha Rani said the Corporation has been utilising the services of 150 coordinators, 600 team members, 15 route supervisors and three mobile teams to cover 30,043 children in the city limits.