Jammu, February 27 (Scoop News) – Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Sham Lal Sharma has sought cooperation from all walks of life to make Jammu and Kashmir a polio free State. For this, he said parents have special responsibility to provide timely immunization to their children.
The Minister was speaking at Mishriwala and Chowki Chowra after launching the second round of National Pulse Polio Immunization campaign today.
Maintaining that awareness about the various dreaded diseases like Polio, AIDS, Cancer and Leprosy is must for the common masses, the Minister said that only Government efforts are not sufficient to achieve goals. He sought cooperation from NGOs, educational institutions, intelligentsia and particularly health employees to check further spread of these diseases. He asked the employees of the health department to reach out every individual child between the age group of 0 to 5 years and ensure administering Polio drops to them, he added.
Sharma said that Government is spending crores of rupees every year to provide necessary vaccination to the children at their doorstep for hundred percent coverage to keep a check on the dreaded disease. It is duty of the parents to get their wards immunized properly to protect them against these diseases. He laid stress to educate the people at the ground level through various mediums like print, electronic and organizing seminars and involving of village level workers on the subject, which can go a long way in checking the dreaded diseases, Sham asserted.
Giving details of the arrangements made for the second round of Pulse Polio Immunization across the State, the Minister apprised that over 19 lakh children will be covered under the campaign. For this purpose, over 11000 booths have been set up at different places. As many as 46877 employees have been pressed into service to ensure 100 percent coverage, said Sharma.
Director Family Welfare, Dr. Rakesh Khajuria, Director Health Services, Dr. Ashok Sharma, Director Indian System of Medicines, Dr. Abdul Kabir, Chief Medical Officer, Jammu, Dr. Baldev Sharma, doctors, paramedics and prominent citizens were also present on the occasion.
Later, on way back the Minister also participated in an annual day function of Kids Planet School at Akhnoor. The little children of the school presented a colorful bonanza of cultural activities which enthralled the jam packed audience.
The Minister appreciated the performance of the students especially for co-curricular activities which were on modern trends. He distributed prizes among the students who excelled in different activities.