Angul: Even as the state government and Centre spend crores of rupees on providing healthcare facilities to the people, the district administration has failed in achieving the desired targets in various immunisation programmes for communicable diseases.
The immunisation schemes failing to achieve the targets has only highlighted the incompetence of the district health department while scores of people languish in neglect as healthcare facilities still remain out of bounds for them.
This was the sum of a district taskforce meeting chaired by collector Anil Kumar Samal. The collector emphasized cent percent success in immunisation programmes. He also underscored the need for expediting immunisation of children and pregnant women.
This has come at a time when infant and maternal mortality rates have acquired alarming proportions in the district. Anganwadi and ASHA workers moving door-to-door and senistising people on the benefits of immunisation failed to achieve the desired results, the meeting said.
The taskforce members deplored the missing of target in the much hyped Pentavalent and Rotavirus vaccination programmes of the Union government which were launched with much fanfare in the country. While Pentavalent vaccination launched October 7, last year, aimed at saving children below five years of age from various communicable diseases, the Rotavirus vaccines programme was launched March 30 to save children from diarrhoea.
However, the district health officials have failed to meet the targets in both the programmes.
In the meeting, the collector reviewed the progress of construction work of buildings of various health centres and directed to equip them with all facilities before handing them over to concerned authorities.
ADMO (family welfare) Gourishankar Bal, ADMO (PH) BP Devata, DPM, NHM Rupak Mohapatra and works and rural development officials attended the meeting. PNN
