Asem Bhakta Singh, Special Correspondent North East
Imphal:(Waari Singbul Network ) Myanmarese children, who are currently putting up at relief camps in Manipur’s Kamjong district were covered by the “National Immunization Day, Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization programme 2024,” launched on Sunday.
Health and family welfare minister Dr Sapam Ranjan Singh, who opened the 3-day programme at the Family Welfare Training Centre in Imphal, said the government is targeting to cover around 3.5 lakh children between 0 to 5 years in it.
Officials sources said that nearly 5700 Myanmarese refugees are currently taking refuge at different villages in Kamjong district after crossing the border illegally on different dates since December last year owing to the massive military crackdown on rebel groups in their country.
“These refugees have already been taken biometrics details by the state authorities, and since their entry they have been providing all basic needs , including health programmes taken up by the government,” they added.
Dr Lucy Duidang, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Kamjong district said that 590 Myanmarese children putting up at the relief camps are eligible for taking polio vaccine drops and out of them 415 were inoculated on Sunday.
“ The rest Myanmarese children would be covered tomorrow and day after. Besides them, we covered nine remotest villages of Kamjong district today, the first day of the immunization programme,” Lucy added.
At the Imphal event, Dr Ranjan said that though India has been certified as a Polio-free country by World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 27, 2014, the government remains vigilant and continues with large-scale immunization efforts considering the prevalence of polio in neighboring countries.
A coordinated effort with all the stakeholders is important to spread the awareness of immunization to each and every household of the state as a whole and immunization is a necessity for the future generation and media has been taking a big role in spreading awareness so far, he added.
“A vaccine saves the society at large and we as a parent need to administer vaccines on time to children. He further added that the immunization programme has been organized with an objective that no individual is left behind, even during the time of crisis,” continued the minister.
He appealed to the media fraternity to spread awareness on the programme to each and every household of the state to promote the health and well-being of the future generation.
