Punjab : Parents will get SMS alert on phone for their wards immunisation

Chandigarh, May 28 (UNI) In a bid to ensure mandatory immunisation of children across Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday launched sending scheduled reminder messages to parents of new born children aged between 0-5 years for immunization/vaccination on mobile phones.
Directing the Health and Family Welfare department to accomplish this task in a mission mode, CM Mann said scheduled message with details of vaccination due and nearest vaccination centre shall be automatically sent to registered mobile numbers of parents. This facility will prove helpful in improving Punjab’s vaccination status.
Talking about the modalities of this facility, an official spokesperson said this automated SMS alerts facility will be available in bilingual language (Punjabi and English). The objective of the facility to sensitize and spread awareness among all the parents (citizen of Punjab) for timely vaccinations of their adolescents, besides monitoring and tracking the entire lifespan of vaccination schedule of children (covering 31 vaccinations).
He further said this facility will cover the current year database of more than 4 lakhs registered birth and tracking their immunizations for the next 5 years (the entire vaccination lifespan). He informed that the initiative is being developed by the Department of Governance Reforms under the aegis of Punjab Government.
“This facility is integrated with the database (e-Sewa) of Registered Births in the State of Punjab,” he said.
Notably, vaccination reminder services in several countries have been effective in increasing compliance by 20 per cent. There are many scientific studies showed the effectiveness of vaccination reminders.