Southern Railways sets up counters in Kerala to administer polio drops

On the occasion of Pulse Polio Day, Southern Railways has set up counters across the state to administer polio drops to children below the age of five.

Passengers at the railway stations were seen queuing up in front of the counters to get polio drops administered to their children.

"We came here to visit Sabarimala and on our way back we stopped to visit Thiruvananthapuram. When we came to the railway station, saw the pulse polio counter here and administered polio drop to my niece," said Girish Gowda.

"I got the message from my office on the need to administer polio drops to children below five. The nearby counters were also mentioned so we have come here to get the drops," said Kiran Kumar from Rajasthan who is on a visit to Thiruvananthapuram with his family.

Apart from the railway station, counters have also been set up at the bus depot, public health centres, private hospitals, mobile booths that will administer polio drops between 8 am and 5 pm.

The official launch of the drive in Kerala was carried out by Health Minister KK Shailaja by administering polio drops to a child.

The drive on Sunday will be followed by house visits on January 20 and 21.

This programme has been launched by the government to eradicate the disease.Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had earlier announced that the National Immunisation Pulse Polio Programme will be conducted nationwide today.

Though India is free from polio, the drops are given to the children below five years as the disease persists in neighboring countries.