Kozhikode: Doctors, house surgeons, junior doctors and medical students are back to their respective alma maters to campaign for measles, rubella (MR) vaccination which is all set to start from October 3. The initiative is centered in Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts and is set to extend all over the state. “The initiative is not conceived for any particular campaign programme alone. It has the bigger idea of bridging the gap between the doctor’s community and the common public which was lost due to multiple reasons,” said Dr Purushothaman K.K, HoD, department of pediatrics, Thrissur government medical college.
20 medicos of Thrissur medical college have come forward to go to their schools and become a part of the PTA meeting which exhorts parents to campaign for MR vaccination. Souparnika Joshi, a 3rd year MBBS student had attended the PTA class in her school, Nirmalamatha school, Thrissur and said that the response was overwhelming. “These doctors/medical students are the pride of the schools. Their turning up and becoming a part of the MR campaign, which targets 70 lakh plus children in the age group of 9 months-15 years in the state, will definitely strike a chord” pointed out Dr Shimna Azeez, the admin of Infoclinic.
According to Malappuram district RCH (reproductive and child health) officer Dr R.Renuka, doctors, working both in the public and private sector have evinced interest to go to their schools for the MR campaign. A vast section of doctors are waging a war against the anti-vaccination lobby which is omnipresent in social media, misleading parents with fabricated facts and figures.
