Over 70 lakh kids given polio drops

Chennai, Apr 9 (UNI) More than 70 lakh children in the age group of 0-five, were administered polio drops under the first phase of the Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme (PPI) in Tamil Nadu today.

Under the campaign, each child was administered two drops of oral polio vaccine. Official sources said new borns were also given the drops.

Immunisation booths were set up in Government Hospitals, Primary Health Centres, Health Sub Centres, Noon Meal Centres, Schools and other important places.

Transit booths were established at railway stations, bus stands, temples and tourist spots to cover moving population.

Mobile teams fanned out to various places to ensure that every child below five years was covered even in the state, including in remote and inaccessible areas.

More than two lakh personnel, including volunteers from NGOs like Rotary, were involved in this mega campaign. Private doctors were also asked to open their clinics on the PPI day today.

In the city, the Chennai Corporation set up more than 1,100 immunisation centres to administer polio drops.

About five lakh children in the city were covered under the programme. The oral polio drops were administered free of cost at government health centres, noon-meal centres, private hospitals, schools, railway stations and bus stands.

Mobile centres were set up at the Marina beach and at the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu.

Polio drops were administered even to children who had already been immunised as a supplementary to routine immunisation.

UNI GV GM VD GC1322