BATTLING POLIO

IN DECEMBER, 2005, the then principal secretary, Family Welfare, had said a mere 29 polio cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh. ?By the end of 2006, we will eliminate the polio virus from Uttar Pradesh,? he said. In the seven months since then, the poliovirus has already crippled 138 children in 19 districts. Officers of the National Polio Surveillance Programme are updating statistics and the number of cases is expected to go up.

Even after organising around half-a-dozen drives each year, the eradication of polio remains a distant dream in Uttar Pradesh .

HT Image

IN DECEMBER, 2005, the then principal secretary, Family Welfare, had said a mere 29 polio cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh.

“By the end of 2006, we will eliminate the polio virus from Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

In the seven months since then, the poliovirus has already crippled 138 children in 19 districts.

Officers of the National Polio Surveillance Programme are updating statistics and the number of cases is expected to go up.

“We have pooled in all our resources in the fight against polio. When it seemed that the battle against polio was won, the disease returned with a vengeance,” says an officer in the Family Welfare Department.

“Reports of fresh cases are still trickling in. By the year-end, the number of polio cases will be much higher than in previous years,” he fears.

Several rounds of immunisation have been organised in 70 districts in the last seven months. The focus was on those districts in which maximum cases have been reported. But, the poliovirus remains virtually unassailable, challenging the might of the doctors, officers, vaccinators and volunteers who have been fighting relentlessly against the scourge.

Why has Uttar Pradesh failed to check the onslaught of the poliovirus?

The report dispatched by the polio surveillance officers raises doubts about the immunisation drive. Though regular immunisation drives are being organised since a decade, officers have found that several children have not been administered polio drops.

The percentage of missed houses has increased from 3.5 in 2003 to 7.3 in 2006.
What is worrying the Family Welfare Department officers is the report that children who were administered the vaccine around a dozen times have been infected with polio. Doubts have been raised over the quality of the vaccine.

Family Welfare Minister Ahmed Hasan says he has already urged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to test the quality of the vaccine. “But we are yet to receive the report,” he addsOn the other hand, WHO officials maintain that no doubt can be raised over the quality of the vaccine. The vaccine has been manufactured according to the norms set by the WHO, they say and blame Health Department officials for laxity in storing the vaccine. In some cases, even expired drugs have been administered to the children, they allege.

Director General, Family Welfare, Dr LB Prasad says the poliovirus enters the body through the mouth, multiplies in the intestine of the children and is emitted through excreta. From there, it spreads further.

The State Government claims that four crore children are immunised in each drive. In the first stage, the children are immunised at booths and later vaccinators pay house-to-house visits, administering polio drops to vulnerable children.

Are chief medical officers fudging the figures about the children that have been immunised? Or has some irregularity been committed in carrying out stool tests of suspected polio infected children?

Ahmed Hasan says his department will inquire into all the issues and take strict action against the erring officers.

Hasan says members of the Muslim community have been convinced and there is no resistance on their part to vaccination. But the officers in Family Welfare Department do not agree with his view. Seventy per cent of the victims belong to the Muslim community, they say.

A senior officer says a campaign has been launched against polio the immunisation programme in western districts. Some local religious leaders have issued ‘fatwa’ and even urged Muslims to keep their children away from the booths.

“It’s a conspiracy by the western countries to make the children impotent and sterile,” a pamphlet says.

Ten percent of the children do not turn up at the booths. When vaccinators visit houses, parents hide their children, officers say.

The State Government spends Rs 12 crore on each immunisation drive.

But, even after organising around half-a-dozen drives each year in the last two decades, the eradication of polio remains a distant dream in Uttar Pradesh.