The three-day Immunization Pulse Polio campaign commenced across Jalandhar district on Sunday with Deputy Commissioner Mr. Varjeet Walia's two-and-a-half-month-old son being administered polio drops by a Health Department team. Appealing to parents to actively participate in the campaign, Mr. Walia said every child below the age of five must be administered polio drops to ensure that India continues to remain a polio-free nation.
He urged residents to extend full cooperation to Health Department teams and ensure that no eligible child is left uncovered during the drive. Accompanied by Civil Surgeon Dr. Rajesh Garg, the Deputy Commissioner said that as many as 2,203 teams have been deployed across the district, including 2,107 house-to-house teams, 66 mobile teams and 30 transit teams, to administer polio drops to 1,96,657 children below five years of age.
He said the teams would cover nearly 5,41,258 households across both urban and rural areas besides focusing on 715 high-risk locations, including slums, brick kilns, industrial areas, temporary settlements and other vulnerable pockets. He further said the district administration and Health Department have made elaborate arrangements to ensure the success of the campaign.
He informed that 267 supervisors have also been deployed to closely monitor the immunization drive and ensure its smooth implementation. He further stated that children who miss receiving polio drops at designated booths on the first day would be covered through intensive house-to-house visits by Health Department teams during the remaining two days of the campaign.
Civil Surgeon Dr. Rajesh Garg, District Immunization Officer Dr. Simranjit Kaur, Assistant Health Officer Dr. Meera, Medical Officer Dr. Adityapal, Dental Surgeon (PAP) Dr. Anudeep Kaur, Deputy MEIOs Aseem Sharma and Ravinder Jassal, Ayurvedic Medical Officer Dr. Monika, MPHW (Female) Kalpana and ASHA workers were present on the occasion.