Statesman News Service
MALDA, June 25: After reported detection of the wild polio virus in a patient at Monirampur village in the neighbouring Jharkhand, health authorities today launched a special polio immunisation drive in Malda and Murshidabad. The objective of this special vaccination drive is to eradicate the deadly wild polio virus (P-1) from this area, the officials said. According to officials, the entire region may be affected by poliomyelitis if necessary steps are not taken immediately. The deadly virus was found in the body of a three-year-old boy at Minirumpur village in Jharkhand on 7 May. The victim is now under the supervision of the health authorities, officials said. The three-year-old boy, Sakil Ahmed, was left out of the pulse polio routine programme. Local authorities did not administer a single drop of pulse polio to him in the last three years, Dr Gopal Chandra Sarkar, chief medical officer of Malda, said. Parents of Sakil were also reluctant to attend the routine immunisation camps, Dr Sarkar said.Both the Centre and the state government faced difficulties in implementing the pulse polio immunisation programme in many resistance pockets of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and other states, where locals even attacked the health workers based on their misconceptions about pulse polio drops.
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