MALAPPURAM: A comprehensive action plan for Malappuram district to achieve total immunisation will get a final shape in two weeks. “Every child in the district will be vaccinated within three months,” health minister K.K. Shylaja said. She was in the district headquarters throughout the day on Monday attending three different meetings to assess the ongoing diphtheria immunisation drive.
It was the minister’s second visit in a month to assess the drive launched after an outbreak of the deadly disease for a second consecutive year. “There will also be concrete efforts on the part of health officials to defeat the anti-vaccination campaign,” the minister said after a meeting with the concerned officials from different regions.
She also admitted the snags in the earlier anti-diphtheria campaigns in the district which led to the alarming situation this year. She pointed out that the government’s vaccination drive has got a broad support of religious leaders. “There is no truth in the perception that the religious leaders in Malappuram oppose the vaccination,” she said.
“They have instead pledged complete support to the ongoing drive,” Ms Shylaja said. “The state will soon launch a comprehensive health care policy that would pave the way for systemic change in the current health care delivery structure.” Primary care centres will become family health centres. Shortage of doctors there will be resolved in six months.
