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INDIA HAS MOST POLIO CASES IN ’08
MARCH 7, 2008: Just two months into 2008 and India has already earned itself the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest number of polio cases till now this year.
According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative data, India has recorded 82 polio cases till February 27. In comparison, three other countries where polio is still endemic—Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan—have together recorded just 23 cases during the same period. However, as on March 6, India has 106 confirmed polio cases of which 105 are P3 strains and one case of P1 infection. This has now made Union health minister A Ramadoss virtually admit that the country’s polio programme is failing to achieve its purpose.
Unhappy with the failure to stop polio from crippling children across the country, Ramadoss has decided to review the National Polio Control Programme.
Ramadoss told TOI that the strategy being currently followed by the country, on suggestions from national and international polio experts and partner organizations, is failing to help India achieve its goal of eradicating polio. “I plan to review the entire polio control programme. We spent Rs 1,300 crore last year and this year intend to spend Rs 1,050 crore on polio eradication. Yet cases continue to rise.” He added: “Polio, especially the outbreaks in Bihar, is a matter of grave concern. I have asked chief minister Nitish Kumar to intensify operations and bring the virus—which has already crippled 89 children in the state—under control. I will visit the state soon.”
The minister said he was shocked by the P1 strain of the virus crippling a 14-month-old child in Delhi last week. “Migrant workers can spread the virus as they travel. That’s why 30,000 migrants from Bihar living in Tamil Nadu are being screened to verify whether their children have taken the vaccine for polio,” he said. Experts say the cases recorded this year are the tail end of the polio outbreak that occurred in India in 2007 and crippled 864 children, compared to 676 in 2006. “The cases recorded from January to March are from last year’s outbreak,” officials added. (Times of India)
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