Kochi: As per the existing national immunisation schedule, a child does not get booster dose of vaccination against diphtheria after the age of five. Since the disease has shown the signs of a public health crisis in the state, the vaccination schedule has to be revised, according to medical experts.
“If it is not feasible to change the national immunisation schedule, the government should initiate a special drive to give vaccination against diphtheria for all children above the age of 10,” said a pediatrician in the government sector.
Special focus should be given to poorly vaccinated areas such as Malappuram, Palakkad and Kasargod-- the three districts included in the Mission Indradhanush programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which aims at intensifying the immunisation drive in the more than 200 poor-performing districts in the country.
“It is high time to initiate intensive prevention and immunisation drive against the dreaded disease. The government should constitute an expert panel to review the situation and take emergency measures to prevent outbreak of the epidemic,” the doctor added.
Public health protection agency a non-starter
During the fag end of its tenure, the previous UDF government had proposed to set up Public Health Protection Agency to coordinate the activities of various departments for tackling the serious health issues posed by communicable and infectious diseases. The agency was presented as New Year gift to the people. The governing body comprised of officials of the departments of health, panchayat raj, urban affairs, social justice, education and Kerala Water Authority. It was to be headed by the chief minister. Sources said the LDF Government was planning to place a modified version of the agency.
But the agency which remained on paper, was also planned in the back drop of increasing outbreak of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, hepatitis, enteric fever were also causing alarm. Communicable diseases, vector-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya, malaria along with leptospirosis had also become major health challenges.
Experts said life style diseases which are inversely proportionate to resistance to infections, had compounded the problem. High cholesterol, sugar levels and blood pressure had lowered the resistance of people across the state resulting in increasing morbidity and mortality due to fever. But what was more scary at the moment was the huge inward migration of workers from outside the state. Many of those coming from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal were also bringing in dengue, malaria and even fatal Kala Azar or black fever.
