KARUR: The second phase of the pulse polio immunisation programme for the year got under way here on Sunday. A total of 917 infants born after the first phase of the polio programme conducted on January 10 were also administered drops.

Parents have a definitive role to play in ensuring a polio-free world for the children to live in and enjoy, Collector J. Uma Maheswari said inaugurating the campaign at a centre here.

An estimated 90,850 children in the district got polio drops during the second phase of the campaign.

While a total of 3,212 medical, para medical staff and volunteers from non governmental organisations have been pressed into service, 768 polio drops administering centres have been established in rural areas while another 38 were set up in urban limits.

Around 104 zonal supervisors monitored the administration of drops in these centres.

Deputy Director (Health) K. Sadasivam, Chairperson of the Karur Municipality P. Sivakamasundari, Rotary Assistant Director (Statistics) Eswaran and Rotary Club of Karur president Anboli Kaliappan were present.

Polio drops were administered to children below the age of five in Thanjavur district on Sunday. M. S. Shanmugham, Thanjavur Collector, inaugurated the programme by administering polio drops to children at Government School at Poyyundarkottai. He said it had been planned to administer polio drops to 2,40,000 children in the district. Polio drops were administered through 128 urban centres and 1382 rural centres in the district. A total of 6,040 staff were involved in the work.

U.Mathivanan, Dairy Development Minister, inaugurated the second phase of the polio mass immunisation programme in Tiruvarur district on Sunday.

He administered the drops to children at Tiruvarur bus stand. M. Chandrasekaran, Tiruvarur Collector, was present.

The Minister said that it has been planned to administer polio drops to 1,15,435 children in the district. Drops are administered through 782 centres in rural areas and 34 centres in urban areas.

Over 1.54 lakh children age were immunised here on Sunday.

The vaccine was administered through 964 camps. This included 12 government hospitals, 73 additional primary health centres, 48 PHCs, 340 schools, six rail and bus stations, a maternity health centre and other camps set up by NGOs. Over 4,000 personnel including doctors, healthcare workers were engaged in the programme.

In Pudukottai, J. Raghavan, District Revenue Officer, inaugurated the campaign at the Municipal Health Centre at Adappan Vayal by administering the drops to a few children.

S. Ezhilarasan, Joint Director of Health, said that special mobile teams have been set up at the railway stations and pilgrim and tourism centres for administering the drops.

A total of 1.57 lakh children were covered during the first phase of the campaign last month. Ramathilagam Udaiyappan, Municipal Chairperson, appealed to the parents to administer the drops without fail. Mr. Raghavan said that the drops were administered at 1,272 centres in various parts of the district.

M. Vijayakumar, Collector, inaugurated the campaign at St. Dominic Girls’ Higher Secondary School here. He said that the drops were administered at a total of 343 centres in the district.

As many as 1,372 volunteers of service organisations and health workers have been drafted for duty.

K. Guna Gomathy, Joint Director of Health, was among those who were present.