Date:10/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/10/stories/2004051012440300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Over 82 p.c. children immunised

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MAY 9. As much as 82.8 per cent of the targeted children (72.2 lakh) was covered under the fourth round of Pulse Polio programme in Bangalore on Sunday, which was Sub-National Immunisation Day.

The percentage was 65 to 70 in the northern districts.

As many as 30,460 booths were set up in the State for the programme in which 97,000 people, including health workers and representatives of voluntary organisations, were involved.

A follow-up to the programme will be taken up in the next three days, and children who were not covered today, will be administered polio drops through a door-to-door campaign, according to the officials concerned.

This time, special efforts were made to convince parents, especially those among certain resistant groups in Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal, to bring their children to the booths, they said. These districts had reported polio cases earlier, they added.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) also took up several measures to ensure that the maximum number of children were immunised.