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Polio Strikes Again

by Medindia Content Team on Apr 11 2006 1:56 PM

Sunday saw yet another nationwide polio immunization drive. However, Family Welfare Minister Ahmad Hasan has come down hard upon officers in Western Uttar Pradesh whose laxity he blames for the fresh 12 cases reported in U.P.

Several officers have been punished in this regard. Such cases clearly demonstrate the insensitivity of the officers according to the Health Minister.

The minister informed that 1,06,160 booths had been set up, where 318480 workers were deployed for proper polio immunization. Totally 58915 teams have also been constituted in the state, to reach those on Monday who were unable to come to the booths on Sunday. 19,638 observers have also been deployed to ensure complete immunization in the state.

In Varanasi about 42 per cent children below the age of five years were administered polio vaccine in the entire district on Sunday. The rest would be administered polio vaccine in the door-to-door campaign that started on Monday. A total of 1,109 teams had been constituted for this campaign.

In Jamshedpur daytime temperatures soaring to over 42 degrees Celsius caused a poor turnout in most of the immunization booths in the district organized by the district health department. Although over 1,300 booths were set up at important junctions like bus stops and railway stations across the district, attendance for registration was less than 25 per cent, unlike the previous records of minimum 70 per cent.

The health department in Jamshedpur has incurred an expenditure of about one crore in organizing the polio immunization camp for the district but the sun ruined their plans. As in the other states health workers have been requested to make a door-to-door visits in the next couple of days in their respective localities to ensure no child is left out of the polio immunization drive.


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