SHILLONG: Health officials in the state are leaving no stone unturned in meeting the target for Intensified Mission Indradhanush, a central immunisation programme, which will be launched in East Khasi Hills on Saturday.
The mission is aimed at vaccinating children below two years and pregnant women against preventable diseases.
But immunisation is a taboo in many parts of the state and health officials often face resistance, especially in rural areas, during immunisation.
Dr JB Ranee, DMCHO, lamented that there are many refusal pockets in the district where headmen and locals refuse to immunise their children because of “false religious beliefs and misconceptions”.
Some of the refusal pockets are Mawryngkneng and Mawkynriew and added that Deputy Commissioner PS Dkhar has already written to the block development officer and headmen to co-operate.
The first round of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush campaign will be held on October 7. The successive rounds will be on November 7, December 7 and on January 8. All the rounds will be for one week.
Under the mission, approximately 11,326 children and 1,772 pregnant women in the district will be immunised.
According to Ranee, the target under the mission was to cover 90 percent children by 2020 but now the target has been revised to December 2018 by the Centre due to the sluggish pace of implementation across the country.
She also informed that the total immunisation of children in the state till 2012 was 52 per cent and now it has increased to 69 per cent.
As far as infant mortality rate is concerned, the district recorded 30 infant deaths per 1000 live births in 2014-15 and the number increased to 31 in 2015-16 and 36 in 2016-17.
She, however, informed that many children from different areas are brought here in East Khasi Hills district for treatment due to availability of hospitals and they die here and hence those deaths are counted as infant mortality of the district and not from the district from which they are brought here for treatment.
