Anugola: A special vaccination campaign for sickle cell patients has been launched in Anugola district to protect them from serious pneumococcal infections and reduce disease-related complications.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling inaugurated the campaign at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH), Monday. Anugola is the first district in the state to launch the free vaccination programme, under which all 1,785 identified sickle cell patients in the district will be vaccinated.
The programme has been launched under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission, with Rs 2.8 crore provided by the District Mineral Foundation (DMF). Confirmed sickle cell patients aged between six and 40 years will be covered, while pregnant women and children have been excluded. Under the vaccination schedule, beneficiaries will first receive one dose of PCV13, followed by one dose of PPSV-23 eight weeks later.
The two vaccines together cost more than Rs 4,000 but will be provided free of cost to eligible patients. Special vaccination camps will be organised at community health centres and urban primary health centres across different blocks of the district. Mahaling said social change was essential to eliminating sickle cell disease and stressed the need to prevent marriages between sickle cell carriers and create greater public awareness about the disease.
More than 66 lakh people have been screened for sickle cell disease in the state, with around 1.20 lakh patients identified, he said. Odisha has become the third state in the country to launch a free sickle cell vaccination programme, while Anugola is the first district in the state to implement it. Palalahada MLA Ashok Mohanty, Anugola MLA Pratap Chandra Pradhan, Chhendipada MLA Agasti Behera and senior health and district officials attended the programme.
