Mangalore: In Dakshina Kannada, 1,50,842 children in the age group of zero to five were administered polio drops in the first day of the pulse polio immunization drive on Wednesday.

District Health Officer (DHO) H.S. Shivakumar said on Thursday that the campaign is in the right track and the district achieved nearly 90 per cent of the target of 1,68,336 children on the first day itself. Addressing pressperson, he said that of the target, 1,16,002 children are in rural areas and 52,334 are in urban areas.

To implement the programme, the district has 3,824 vaccinators (3,034 in rural and 790 in urban areas); 191 supervisors (148 in rural and 43 in urban areas). The drive was held at 922 booths.

Dr. Shivakumar said the drive will be held for four days from Sunday in Mangalore City Corporation limits.

On Sunday in Udupi

The Department of Health and Family Welfare will take up the first round of campaign to administer oral pulse polio drops to 89,208 children up to the age of five in Udupi district on February 23.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer Ramachandra Bairy said that of the 89,208 children, 42,016 were in Udupi taluk, 31,700 in Kundapur taluk and 15,492 in Karkala taluk.

For the children who had missed on getting pulse polio drops, the personnel of the department would conduct a house-to-house survey in rural areas on February 24 and 25, and in urban areas on February 24, 25 and 26.

More emphasis would be laid on administering the drops in migrant workers’ colonies in urban areas of the district.

Some educated people who lived in flats in urban areas showed little interest in visiting the booths and were being covered in the house-to-house survey.

Vinay Kumar Sorake, District in-charge Minister, would inaugurate the Pulse Polio programme at the District Maternity and Children’s Hospital here at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dr. Bairy said.