The first phase of the National Pulse Polio Campaign kicked off in
the State on Sunday. Even with the World Health Organisation (WHO)
declaring India a polio-free country and there being no cases of polio
reported in Karnataka since 2004, authorities are doing their best to
keep children in the State safe from the ailment.

On Sunday, the
first day of the campaign, over 83.56 per cent of children below the age
of five were immunised in BBMP limits. While the aim was to reach and
immunise 6,50,592 children in the area, the officials administered
vaccination to 5,43,673 children. There were 2,094 polio booths with
8,376 volunteers. Over the next two days, the volunteers will go
door-to-door administering the vaccine to make sure not a single child
is left out.

 Health Minister U T Khader inaugurated the campaign
by administering polio drops to a few children at HSIS Gosha Hospital.
He said: “India has emerged as a polio-free nation, thanks to 19 years
of anti-polio campaigns. The Health Department has set up 32,000 Pulse
Polio booths all over the State to cover children up to the age of
five.”

 He appealed to the people to cooperate with the Department
of Health and Family Welfare’s initiative to maintain Karnataka’s
status as a polio-free State in the future too.

 The State is
looking at complete eradication of polio and people should take
precautionary measures when they visit polio endemic countries, he said,
while lauding the efforts of Rotary Club and various other NGOs towards
polio eradication and awareness in the State.

 Madan Gopal,
principal secretary to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, said
the government is concerned about the chances of polio spreading from
travellers who come from countries like Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan and
Pakistan. “We have drawn up a programme to administer polio vaccination
to people coming from these places at the airport,” he said.

Madan
Gopal said, “82.13 per cent of children below five years of age were
covered in the urban areas and 88.31 per cent of the target was achieved
in the rural parts of the State. We hope that the number will increase
in the next couple of days.”

 While districts like Bijapur,
Bagalkot and Chamarajanagar showed improvement compared to previous
years, Gulbarga continued to lag behind.

 “Only 74.75 per cent of
children were covered in the district despite organising awareness
programmes,” Gopal said. Gulbarga also showed a higher figure than the
urban areas.

“Rural parts showed that 79.73 per cent of children
were immunised, whereas urban areas lagged behind at 67.96 per cent,” he
added. Udupi recorded the highest figure with 95.50 per cent.

Minister rides ambulance-bike

On
Sunday, Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader rode an ambulance
bike, which the Health Department is likely to launch soon, from his
residence to HSIS Gosha Hospital. The government is planning to deploy
such bikes to attend to accident victims. Ambulance bikes can reach the
accident spot much faster than bigger vehicles due to traffic
congestion, said an official. Khader, however, said they have not taken
any decision on using such bikes. “As of now, it is just an idea, and it
still needs a lot of planning,’’ he said.