Mobile teams to vaccinate children in remote areas
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12/05/2008
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Hindu (Chennai)
Mobile medical teams will now reach out to remote/hilly terrains for administering vaccines to children under the supervision of doctors. Besides, the government has formed a high-level committee of health experts to analyse the vaccination model that was introduced following the death of four children in Tiruvallur district on April 23. Official sources told The?Hindu here that the first meeting of the committee, headed by the Director of Public Health P. Padmanabhan, was held in Chennai on Friday. The pros and cons of institution-based immunisation, wherein children are mobilised to PHCs on Wednesdays for vaccination were analysed. "We are analysing the way the new immunisation model was implemented in the last two Wednesdays. "An important recommendation made by the committee was to exempt people in inaccessible areas from bringing children to PHCs. Outreach camps will also continue,' S. Elango, Additional Director of Public Health, said here on Sunday. According to health officials in Dindigul district, mobile teams would go to villages such as Poondi, Kaunji and Pookal in Kodaikanal Hills that had no transport facilities to reach the nearest PHC. The committee members include experts from Institute of Child Health, Chennai, Directorate of Public Health and the King's Institute of Preventive Medicine. "The objective is to ensure complete coverage. The government will come out standard guidelines on vaccination within a week,' Dr. Padmanabhan said.