Sub National Immunisation Programme for polio vaccination in Sonitpur

HT Correspondent
TEZPUR, Sept 18: Along with rest of the 19 districts in the state, the Sub-National Immunisation Programme for polio vaccination has got underway from Sunday in Sonitpur with a three-day programme.
Launching the three-day long special immunisation programme in Sonitpur at Kanaklata Civil Hospital in Tezpur, the district immunisation officer Dr. Biman Sarmah exclusively said, “After launching Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme (PPIP) in India in 1995 as per the Global Initiative of Eradication of Polio resolved in WHO’s Assembly in 1988, the children in the age group of 0-5 years are administered polio drops during national and sub-national immunization rounds every year.”
“About 172 million children across the nation are immunised during each National Immunisation Day held during the month of December/January. However, to cover the polio left out or dropout and the children in high-risk areas the sub national immunisation round has been held from time to time in the country for the past many decades. This is the first time in Assam where in total 19 districts are identified for the Sub National Immunisation Programme and Sonitpur is one among these.”
Dr. Sarmah said, “During the three-day long programme, a total of 1,48,242 children of the district are targeted and on the first day of the programme in total 755 polio booths children would be given polio drops while on the second and third day, the health workers would give door to door visit to cover 2,49,781 houses. The facility will also be available in 39 Government hospitals and private nursing homes in the district which are considered as institutional booths.”
Revealing that a total of 3020 team members (health workers) and 149 supervisors have been engaged in this programme, Dr. Sarmah also stated that the health worker’s team would be also in total 31 transit points like bus stop, center place, railway station and market place in the district so that no child is left out from this programme.
“Moreover, 145 mobile teams have been engaged to cover high risk areas like char, forest and slum areas in the district. For this special immunisation programme, total 1,6,3066 doses of polio vaccine will be needed which are accordingly available in the stock. The booths will remain open from 9 am to 4 pm,” Dr. Sarmah said.