MALAPPURAM: The district administration in Malappuram embarked on an Herculean task to achieve 100 per cent immunisation in the district within a month by bringing together all the stakeholders. An extensive action plan was given a final shape at a meeting of top officials and peoples representatives in the chamber of district collector S. Venkatesapathy on Saturday.
The immunisation drive will be rolled out in two phases. In the first phase, ward level campaign will be held throughout all the civil bodies in the district and in the second phase the drive will focus on schools. The panchayat and municipal level meeting will be held on Sunday throughout the districts. During the meets, the local body representatives and authorities will chart out plans and design a campaign to be implemented throughout the respective wards.
Junior health inspectors, public health nurses, social workers, doctors and local religious leaders will be included in the meetings to chart out the action plan for ward level immunisation drive. The collector said that the drive would put special focus on unimmunised and partially immunised children below 16 years. A door-to-door campaign will also be rolled to cover this age group, he said.
The collector has directed the Deputy Director of Education (DDE), Malappuram to report the immunisation status of all students of government, aided and unaided schools in the district.
Special PTA meetings and vaccination drives have also planned throughout the district. The PTA meeting will be conducted to spread the awareness among parents. The collector instructed school managements to put a ban on all unofficial health awareness programmes in the schools.
TD vaccine will be administered to the students aged 7-16 at the schools itself. The dive plans to cover all 1,32000 children who remain either unimmunized or partially immunized in the district within two weeks. “50,000 dose of vaccine had already made available for the district. And more will be brought to meet the shortage,” said Dr. Sunil Kumar, deputy director department of health.
Health department director Dr. R Ramesh had on Friday sent a team of experts led by Dr. Sunil Kumar to assess the situation in the district. The team will also look into the past immunization drives as well.
Fifth diphtheria case reported in district
One more diphtheria case was reported in Malappuram district on Saturday. 21-year old Fayiz, native of Pallikkal near Kondotty in the district was admitted to Kozhikode Medical college hospital with the symptoms of diphtheria. Four cases, including two deaths due to diphtheria were reported in the district in two weeks.
Deputy district medical officer, Dr R. Renuka said that the doctors of Medical college hospital have confirmed the symptoms of diphtheria in the patient. The swab of the patient has been sent to laboratory for detailed clinical examinations.
