Secretary holds State task force meeting on Measles Rubella
Secretary, Health and Medical Education (H&ME), Bhupinder Kumar, toady held the State task force meeting regarding preparation of roadmap for Measles Rubella Elimination by 2023 with the Directorate of Family Welfare, MCH and Immunization J&K.
The meeting was attended by Director General, FW, MCH & Immunization, Dr. Saleem Ur Rehman, Additional Secretary H&ME, Deputy Secretary H&ME, AD-FW Jammu and Kashmir divisions, SPO-UNDP, WHO-SMOs Jammu and Kashmir divisions besides all Chief Medical Officers, Deputy CMOs and DIOs of the UT.
A detailed Power Point Presentation was delivered by AD-FW Jammu on the status of Measles Rubella vaccination and the roadmap for MR Elimination program by 2023.
Secretary emphasized the need for initiating serious efforts to identify the areas of immunity gaps and pockets of vaccine hesitancy in the priority districts. He stressed upon the prioritization of existing high-risk areas and develop District RI improvement plan to overcome the identified operational gaps.
Secretary directed all the district officials to strengthen the concurrent monitoring and supervision at the ground level. He stressed upon strengthening the timely case-based Fever and Rash and Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) surveillance at all the districts.
Secretary directed the Chief Medical Officers of all the districts to accelerate District/ Sub- district Task Force Meetings in the districts to review the implementation of MR elimination activities and provide strategic directions to focus on areas needing attention.
He further impressed upon the strengthening of the laboratory network by building the capacity of Microbiology Department of GMC Jammu for the testing of Measles and Rubella cases of Jammu division.