New polio case in Punjab, pulse polio focus on migrant workers

Patiala, Oct 21 (UNI) A case of polio was today detected in a migrant labourer's family living in a slum area of Rajpura.

The Civil Surgeon Dr Kuldeep Kaur today confirmed that a girl, Kami, from the slum area of Rajpura, tested positive for polio when she was taken to the hospital with symptoms.

Kami lived in the shanty town near railway section and had come here with her labourer family from Uttar Pradesh, Dr Kaur said stressing that the ongoing pulse polio campaign would now specially target the migratory population in the state.

The polio immunisation campaign being kicked off in six districts, including Patiala, Mohali, Ropar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and Sangrur, would focus more on such families now, she said.

About 5,000 workers will spread across these districts to administer polio drops to about 12 lakh children.

Dr Kuldeep Kaur said that 995 teams have been constituted to administer polio drops to 238740 children between 0-5 years in three days.

Apart from this, 25 transit teams and 37 mobile teams were constituted, who would specially target families of labourers and visit even in late hours when they return home with children.

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