The incident happened at the PHC at Pallikkal grama panchayat near Kondotty on Saturday before a 400-plus crowd of parents and children. Dr Shimna Azeez was there to take a class about the campaign.

Kozhikode: Sometimes doctors are asked to ‘heal themselves’. A young lady doctor in Malappuram faced a similar challenge during the ongoing measles-rubella vaccination campaign.

Dr Shimna Azeez, 29, medical officer at the postpartum unit of Government Medical College, Manjeri, injected herself with rubella vaccine, meant for children, to convince the father of a child about its efficacy.

The incident happened at the PHC at Pallikkal grama panchayat near Kondotty on Saturday before a 400-plus crowd of parents and children. Dr Shimna Azeez was there to take a class about the campaign.

Dr Shimna said that after the session, the vaccine, vaccine carrier, syringe, ice pack etc. were passed on to the parents so that they could check them for themselves.

The video of providing MR vaccine to her two kids had also been shown. Then a mother asked why the adults were not covered by the vaccine to which the doctor replied that the majority of the measles-rubella cases occurred among children below 15 years.

“I also explained that in many countries, vaccination covers adults also. In a lighter vein, I said I have taken measles vaccine in my childhood but not rubella. Then a man stood up and challenged me to take the rubella vaccine on the spot. He had not administered the vaccine to his ward. I felt his aim was to put me in a fix. I took up the challenge and injected the vaccine on my right shoulder in front of the crowd,” she said.