TURA: The District Task Force on Immunization (DTFI) held its second round of meeting on Thursday at Ampati to review the preparedness and micro plan for the upcoming Measles-Rubella Vaccination Campaign (MRVC) in South West Garo Hills district.
The meeting, chaired by Deputy Commissioner & Chairman DTFI Ramkumar S, was also attended by Superintendent of Police, B.S.W.Momin, Additional Deputy Commissioners H.D.B.Sangma and D.D.Shira, BDOs and EACs, besides all the members of the District Task Force, medical officers, nodal officers and programme managers of all the three blocks.
Addressing the meeting, Deputy Commissioner said that MRVC is a massive national campaign to eradicate Measles and Rubella by the year 2020 as these are killer diseases and one of the main causes of high infant mortality rate in the country.
After reviewing the preparations and micro plan for the campaign in the district, Deputy Commissioner stressed the involvement of all in the district from the highest level to the lowest, saying “there is no such thing as big or small role in this campaign. Everyone must be involved to ensure its success”.
In reply to reports sought from the medical officers in charge of PHCs and CHCs for any issues or challenges being faced regarding the campaign, it was informed that in certain areas rumours were being spread that the vaccination was being given to stop child births and control population, which has resulted in some section of community refusing to participate in the campaign. In this regard, the Deputy Commissioner directed the District Immunization Officer and Education officials to visit the area to create awareness about the campaign. The district police have also been asked to monitor and tackle any such rumours that may arise during the course of the campaign.
Magistrates were also directed to monitor the campaign in specific areas which would be designated to them and to continuously be present during the campaign. BDOs have also been asked to engage with the VECs in their respective blocks to ensure that all the children in their villages are immunized with MR vaccine during the campaign. The Health department was also asked to coordinate with Block Mission Coordinators (SSA) and share with them the day-to-day planning so that they can inform the schools in advance the schedule of vaccination for the respective schools.
DM&HO, Ampati, Dr K A Sangma said that with the full support from the district administration she was confident that the district would be able to achieve the target, while District Immunization Officer, Dr C R Sangma informed that massive IEC activities would start from next week after the micro plan has been completed. In this regard, the Deputy Commissioner said that specific IEC activities should be planned to ensure effective communication.
Meanwhile, a workshop was also conducted for the medical officers on Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) at Ampati on Thursday.
Earlier, National Observer for South West Garo Hills, Dr Vijay Kumar visited Ampati in the last two days to assess the district preparedness for the MR campaign and expressed his satisfaction with the planning and preparations taking place in the district.