DC advocates door-to-door vaccination drives

ITANAGAR, 10 May: Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) Deputy Commissioner Shweta Nagarkoti Mehta stressed on carrying out door-to-door vaccination drives “for people who are not willing to come forward,” and said that counselling efforts should be made to make them understand the importance of vaccination.

The DC said this after inaugurating a model immunisation centre at the Chimpu PHC on Friday, in the presence of ICR DMO Dr Kipa Tuglik, doctors, healthcare workers, and others.

She expressed hope that the centre will cater to the needs of a large number of people, and urged the officials of the health department to “carry out mass awareness regarding vaccination, involving ASHAs and anganwadi workers.”

The doctors gave assurance that efforts would be made to educate the parents about the importance of vaccination.

Representatives of JSI informed that the initiative is aimed at “spotlighting” the best practices in service delivery by strengthening the immunisation service experience.

“The initiatives include quality improvement steps, such as capacity-building for staff, strengthening the immunisation centre to be more user-friendly, and other person-centred approaches, such as counselling and effective communication and outreach in communities,” they said.

The USAID-supported MOMENTUM Routine Immunisation Transformation and Equity Project developed the model immunisation centre at the Chimpu PHC.

The DC inspected the health centre and took stock of its functioning. Later, she inspected the health & wellness centres in Ganga and Lobi, and the Itafort UPHC.

She held discussions with all the in-charges regarding the facilities available at their respective centres, and discussed ways to improve healthcare delivery in Itanagar. She urged all the medical officers and health workers to be diligent and regular in performing their duties.

“Even though health services are being delivered at the facilities, data are not properly entered and uploaded to the portal,” she said, and asked them to ensure on-time updating of data.

She also enquired about the outreach and awareness programmes, door-to-door vaccination, availability of generic medicines, etc, and assured to look into the grievances raised by the in-charges.

During the visits, the DC was accompanied by DSO Dr Giri Tali and DVBDCPO Dr Lokam Dominic. (DIPRO)