JAIPUR: Amavasya or new moon is considered inauspicious by some people. But in Kota the health department officials eagerly wait for the day every month as it is proving ‘auspicious’ for them.For the health department officials this is the occasion when they can increase the percentage of full immunization coverage of children and pregnant women. Centre has set a target for the health department to achieve 90% full immunization coverage by the end of December 2018.But, it is a challenging task for the health department officials to track down labourers for vaccinating their children against disease as these labourers go to construction sites for work. They remain partially vaccinated or not at all as they keep moving from one place to another for work. However, amavasya is one such day when these labourers are available for vaccination.“We thought about how to track each individual for getting their children vaccinated. It is quite a difficult task as they do not have any permanent dwelling. After a lot of discussion, we decided to conduct a survey. Our officials reached at every corner of the city where these labourers wait for people to take them to help at construction sites,” said Dr Ramakant Lavaniya, chief medical health officer (CMHO), Kota.When the health department officials spoke to them, the labourers informed them that they do not work on amavasya as they consider it inauspicious. “We also collected their addresses. They live in groups. We found 129 such places in Kota where they live,” Lavaniya informed.The health department called their auxiliary nurse midwives from rural areas to visit these labourers’ houses on amavasya and vaccinate their children and the pregnant women. “We started doing it more than six months ago. Now, it has become our routine. We have vaccinated 47 pregnant women who are labourers and also 400-500 children on each amavasya till now,” he said.The full immunization coverage in Kota is 84%. Health department’s project director (immunization) Dr Satish Kumar Garg said, “Special vaccination drives are being carried out on amavasya. It is only happening in Kota as labourers in Kota do not work on that day.”

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