Babies below six months to be vaccinated against rotavirus in coming weeks |30 March 2017

Newborn babies are to start receiving vaccine against the rotavirus in the coming weeks as the process to introduce the vaccine into Seychelles’ Extended Programme of Immunisation (EPI) reaches the final stage of preparations.

Yesterday morning Cable & Wireless Seychelles (CWS) who is sponsoring the five-year project through the Lions Club of Seychelles together with Lions Club members presented a cheque for R500,000 to the Health Care Agency (HCA).

The chief executive of Cable & Wireless (CWS) Charles Hammond, the president of Lions Club Seychelles Mr Ramu Pillay, and the president of Melvin Jones Lions Club Dr K. Viveganandran presented the cheque to the deputy chief executive of the HCA Dr Danny Louange. This was during a ceremony at the Sheikh Khalifa Diagnostic Centre which was attended by the health minister Jean-Paul Adam, the ambassador for women and children Dr Erna Athanasius, several Lions Club members as well as health professionals and management members of the health ministry.

Rotavirus infection causes profuse diarrhoea in infants and young children with devastating consequences including severe dehydration and death, and accounts for about one third of hospital admissions for diarrhoea among babies and young children in Seychelles.  Around 200 children are currently receiving treatment for the virus.

The Rotavirus Vaccination Project was initiated by Charted Melvin Jones Lions Club president PMJF DR P. Selvam and Lion Dr P. Sanjeev. It was approved by the Ministry of Health and officially launched in October 2015.

When Lions Club of Seychelles approached Mr Hammond he promised to take over the entire vaccination project without any hesitation and with that promise Lions worked hard to make it happen.

Through statistics being collected through hospital admissions since 2013 and finalised last year it was found that some 30% of infants suffer from the virus.

Accepting the cheque and expressing sincere gratitude to the sponsors, Dr Louange said it would greatly help the Ministry of Health improve the health of our children.

He said the initiative is in line with the health ministry’s and HCA’s strategy to shift the balance of care to the community.

“The cheque represents prevention of diseases,” Dr Louange said thanking the CWS and the Lions Club whom he said are among the health ministry and the HCA’s dear, sincere and committed partners. 

For his part Mr Hammond stressed on the importance of introducing the vaccine which will prevent long hospital admissions among children.

“In infants the infection can be deadly and the Lions Club members have been very compelling in their presentation on the rotavirus and why it is important to eliminate it entirely from Seychelles and parents cannot help but be concerned about it,” Mr Hammond said.

He remarked that health systems all over the world face similar challenges when it comes to finding enough money to provide quality health care as this takes up a huge percentage of the health ministries’ budgets.

“At CWS we understand this and we see a compelling project that we can invest in and the results of eliminating the rotavirus will have a great impact on the health services, on the children and their families with peace of mind for parents while there will be less hospital admission giving doctors more time to look at other things as well. CWS is very happy to sponsor this project and partner with the Lions Club and we are very enthusiastic to see it through with success,” Mr Hammond said.

Thanking Mr Hammond for believing in and supporting the project Mr Ramu Pillay also stressed on its benefits for children and their families.

He noted that the Lions Club has been working closely with the health ministry since 2006 and has realised several health-oriented projects which have been much welcomed and appreciated.

He added that several more projects are lined up and waiting to be realised.

The president of Melvin Jones Lions Club Dr K. Viveganandran, who is also responsible of the Les Mamelles and Mont Fleuri health centres, said once they receive the vaccine the babies will be protected until they are several years old.

He said the vaccination will be in drop form and administered in two doses to babies from between 60 days after birth for the first dose and after 90 days for the second dose.

He has called on other organisations and companies to come forward and support and help sustain such initiatives whose benefits are long-lasting and beneficial for all.