City sets up 9,546 polio vaccination centers

City sets up 9,546 polio vaccination centers

JAKARTA (JP): The municipal administration has prepared 9,546
polio vaccination centers and trained about 20,000 volunteers to
carry out the city's part in the national polio immunization
drive, which begins tomorrow.

Deputy Governor for Social Welfare R.S. Museno said yesterday
that careful preparations have been made to ensure the success of
the program in the city.

Under the program, all children of below five years old are to
be immunized with polio vaccine free of charge. The program,
which aims to eradicate polio in Indonesia, will be carried out
in two phases: the first tomorrow and the second on Oct. 18.

"As the capital city it is important for Jakarta to make this
program successful," Museno said, adding that Jakarta often sets
an example for other big Indonesian cities, with any national
achievement being measured by the results in Jakarta.

Museno said that, of the 9,546 vaccination centers, 7,927 have
been established in residential areas, 1,120 in pre-schools and
kindergartens, 61 in hospitals and community health centers, 91
in marketplaces and 27 in inter-city bus terminals, the Soekarno-
Hatta airport and Tanjung Priok port.

The city administration has set a target of completing the
vaccination program in one day, between 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Museno said that cooperation between the government and
community organizations will be important in achieving the
target, urging coordination to mobilize the people to bring their
children to the immunization centers.

He stressed that only through such cooperation can the
vaccination of all babies and young children be ensured.

"According to the latest data at the city administration,
there are about 484,516 children under five years of age, far
below an estimate of 928,100 prepared by the ministry of health,"
Museno said.

Commenting on the large gap between the city's statistics and
the health ministry's estimate, which is based on the 1990
census, Museno said that the discrepancy may result from the
difficulties faced by the municipal administration in counting
the children of Jakartans living in luxury real estate complexes.

"Our officers face difficulties in registering them because
they are living in housing estates which are encircled by high
fences," he said.

"But, registered or not, please come to the centers because it
is for the sake of the future of our children," Museno
added.(yns)