SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, May 25: Dhanbad became the first district in the state to achieve a 100% Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination target before the scheduled time fixed by the state health department.
The state government has launched a special MR vaccination campaign in nine districts: Dhanbad, Deoghar, Dumka, Giridih, Jamtara, Koderma, Pakur, Godda and Sahibganj for covering 45,13,397 children in the age group of 9 months to 15 years.
As per the union health ministry report, Jharkhand is a major measles infection-affected state in the country. The report submitted to the parliament said a total of 290 measles cases were registered in the country in 2022 of which 120 were found in Jharkhand.
Rattled by the union health ministry report, the Jharkhand health department selected nine districts where maximum measles cases were found for vaccination of children on April 5 for covering target in five weeks.
Dhanbad had been given a target of Eight lakh, 13 thousand and 305 children to vaccinate. “In 42 days on Wednesday, we achieved the 100% target fixed by the state government. We vaccinated 8 lakh, 17 thousand and 879 ( 106%) before scheduled time “, claimed civil surgeon (CS) Dr Alok Viswakarma today.
The silver lining for the health department in the campaign was that posh private schools especially Convent institutions in the district also participated and ensured 100% vaccination of their students.
Civil Surgeon Dr Vishwakarma and district reproductive child healthcare (RCH) officer Dr Sanjiv Kumar said that the 100% target could be achieved due to joint efforts of Sahiya to medical officer in-charge of community health centres (CHC) from village to block level and their active participation in the campaign.
“Deputy commissioner (DC) and deputy development commissioner (DDC) all were serious about the implementation of vaccination and held three meetings of the District Task Force (DTF) to achieve the target of the health department,” said Dr Viswakarma.
