Economic divide plagues government’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) too.
While children living in city slums are yet to be completely covered under the immunisation programme, children from well-to-do families are getting doses of all new ‘useful, not-so-useful’ vaccines available in the market.
Under UIP, the government covers vaccines for six preventable diseases — tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles and polio.
According to a study done by the School of Public Health, PGI, in 2006, eight per cent of all children under five years were not immunised in the city. While 82 per cent of poor children were given BCG vaccine, only 57 per cent were given DPT and polio third dose vaccines. Forty-three per cent slum children were not vaccinated against measles.
“The data in Chandigarh keeps fluctuating due to constant migration,” said Dr G Diwan, District Immunisation Officer. “People come from neighbouring states for delivery here and don’t bother to follow-up,” he said.
The department has moved a proposal that all slum dwellers seeking new ration card or renewal of old card should produce their child’s immunisation certificate.
At Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, cases of tetanus, diphtheria and measles keep trickling in. “We also get cases of suspected whopping cough,” said Dr Veena Parmar, HoD. “Many children do not even received the basic six vaccines, forget extra vaccines like MMR and Hepatitis B, which the parents have to pay for,” Dr Parmar said.
In contrast, children belonging to middle class and upper middle class families in the city are over-vaccinated, according to a paper published in January 2007 issue of the Indian Journal of Pediatrics.
The paper, published by the Department of Community Medicine, GMCH, found in children below five years, belonging to financially sound families, being administered all new vaccines. This house-to-house survey was carried out from January 2004 to September 2005. Of the 1,031 children of the total urban population, more than 40 per cent were immunised with the basic as well as the newer vaccines.
The paper also pointed out that most children were vaccinated at private hospitals, and in most cases, with “useless” vaccines. “For instance, vaccines for Hepatitis A and typhoid have limited shelf lives. They have to be given every two to three years and lose their usefulness over time,” said a co-author of the study, on condition of anonymity.