Agriculture Marketing & District-in-Charge Minister Sharanabasappagouda Darshnapur on Sunday inaugurated the four day special pulse polio immunisation programme in the City, by administering the pulse polio drops to children in the Gulla Bhavadi area.
   Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P C Jaffer, District Health Officer Nalini Namoshi and others were present on the occasion.
   While the polio drops were administered to the children below five years at the 2,254 immunisation booths set for the purpose on Sunday, a door-to-door campaign would be taken on May 21, 22, and 23. Around 5,31,769 lakh children below the age of five years in the district will be covered during the drive. Included among them are 1.52 lakh children in urban areas.
   For administering the polio drops, 2,098 teams had been formed, while there were 140 transit teams, and 16 teams were situated in public places like the markets, bus stand, and railway station. Other than these, there were 16 mobile teams doing the rounds. In all, 450 supervisors, and 4,509 immunisation personnel were on the job. Health inspectors, health workers, teachers, and anganwadi workers were part of the teams which administered the polio drops.
   The pulse polio programme was started in 154 countries initially in 1984 and it has been eradicated in all the countries except in seven.
   These are, Lebanon, Egypt, Uganda, Bulgaria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.