24X7 immunisation in Delhi hospitals
All Delhi government hospitals will soon start providing immunisation services round-the-clock, to achieved the target of 100% immunisation by December this year. Delhi’s directorate of family welfare wrote to all its hospitals earlier this month asking them to “support the endeavour”.
“Your personal insight and support towards this endeavour would augment the pace of achieving 100% immunisation coverage across the state... attaining a major leap towards goal of a single-digit IMR (infant-mortality rate defined as number of deaths of infants below the age of one per 1,000 live births),” the letter written to the medical superintendants of all the hospitals read.
In Delhi, there are around 20% children who have not been immunised, according to estimates by the family welfare department.
“Full immunisation coverage can be achieved only by increasing availability and accessibility. We usually encourage receiving the routine immunisation shots in our out-patient department between 9 and 1. But, there is small percentage of people, especially daily wage workers, who are not able to miss work and come during the day. Round the clock immunisa- tion will help in reaching out to these people,” said Dr JP Kapoor, director of Delhi’s family welfare department.
India’s full immunisation coverage, meaning children who have received all the scheduled vaccines, was 65% in 2013, an increase of four percentage points since 2009. In 2014, Mission Indradhanush was launched by the union government to speed up this process and achieve immunisation for all children by the year 2020.
The immunisation programme is monitored on state and national level on a regular basis for follow-up and corrective measures.
The hospitals have been requested to provide vaccines BCG (for tuberculosis), DPT (for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus toxoid), for Heptitis B, for measles, tetanus and pentavalent vaccine (a combination of five vaccines against (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis b and haemophilus influenzae type), along with vitamin A supplementation.
They have also been asked to install a micro-refrigerator in labour rooms for birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine (used got preventing Hepatitis B from mother to child), zero dose of oral polio vaccine and the BCG injection.
“It will take a while for the hospitals to make arrangements and train their staff to be able to provide the 24*7 services, but it will happen soon,” said Dr Kapoor.