Following the detection of Covid cases among some children in Karnataka, the State government has taken up the process of conducting extensive health check-up camps for the young.

Chairing a Covid review meeting in Mangaluru on Thursday, Basavaraja Bommai, Karnataka Chief Minister, said extensive health check-up camps for children will be conducted in the State during the next month-and-a-half to assess the children’s health and address issues related to them.

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Paediatric health camps would help in assessing the nutritional requirements of children in the State, their health status, etc. This will give an opportunity to improve the health of the children also.

The initiative will be taken up with the participation of the Departments of Women and Child Welfare, Health, Education and Revenue.

Stating that prevention is better than cure, Bommai said such a move to conduct paediatric health camp on a war footing at village level in the State would help in preventing the onset of Covid among children to a great extent. “No child should be left unchecked,” he said.

Vaccination

On the vaccination front, Bommai said the State is getting around 65 lakh doses of vaccines a month now. The State is hoping to get 1 crore doses this month and around 1.5 crore doses from next month.

Considering the increase in the Covid positive cases in the border districts surrounding Kerala and Maharashtra, the priority will be given to these districts in vaccination.

K Sudhakar, Karnataka Health Minister, expressed concern over the increase in Covid cases in Dakshina Kannada district, and asked the district administration to focus on bringing the affected people to Covid care centres than allowing home isolation for them.

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Bommai said the triaging of the Covid affected people should be conducted and they should be isolated either at home or in Covid care centres.

The elected representatives from Dakshina Kannada district, who participated in the meeting, said that the influx of people from the neighbouring Kerala is one of the reasons for the increase in the number of Covid cases.

KV Rajendra, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, said that around 2.46 lakh people in the border areas of the district have been identified as vulnerable.

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