Secretary Health and Medical Education (H&ME), Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah today launched the immunization campaign, commemorating the National Immunization Day, from Children Hospital, Bemina here. Director Family Welfare, MCH and Immunization, Dr. Tabasum Jabeen and other officers and officials of the department were present on the occasion.
After launching the campaign, the Secretary appreciated the contribution of health workers for making pulse polio a great success. He emphasised on the need for encouraging and appreciating the ground level workers who risk their lives to ensure vaccination to the last child in queue.
Similarly, Special Secretary Health & Medical Education, Amarjeet Singh alongwith Director Health Services Jammu, Dr. Rakesh Magotra launched the campaign at Government Hospital Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. At District headquarters, the campaign was inaugurated by the respective Deputy Commissioners.
The first day of the campaign featured booth activities with a targeted child population of 19,35,358, aged 0-5 years. On the 2nd and 3rd day, the teams will conduct house-to-house visits to ensure coverage of those missed during the booth activity.
A total of 10,799 booths, manned by 42,929 trained Health Workers/Vaccinators and 2,169 Supervisors, along with 549 mobile and 835 transit teams, were deployed across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Ample quantity of pulse polio doses have been made available at designated booths throughout the territory.
At the end of the first day, reports reflected that 16,81,808 children (87%) were administered polio drops at the booths established across Jammu & Kashmir. For the next two days, the door-to-door campaign will continue, with efforts intensified to achieve 100% immunization coverage for all children across the Union Territory.