'State may have last polio case this year'

PATNA: Film and television personality Farooque Sheikh, a known crusader for the polio eradication in the country, said if everything went well Bihar would have the last polio case in 2006. Addressing a media gathering here on Friday, Sheikh who came to Bihar on May 17 on a Unicef invitation, said: "I have been informed that the Indian Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) has said if Bihar continued to have polio vaccination rounds of high quality, it should have the last case in 2006."IEAG is the apex body of the country that is guiding the polio eradication programme, he said. He was accompanied by State Health Society executive director S P Sinha and noted paediatricians Dr Utpal Kant Singh and Dr A K Thakur. Sheikh, who also travelled to Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur, met community leaders, religious leaders and voluntary organisation to elicit their support for the polio eradication programme. In an appeal to mediapersons, he said: "Mediapersons should understand and get people to understand that polio vaccine and other vaccines are completely safe. Any illnesses occurring during polio vaccination rounds are caused by other reasons which should be medically investigated." World Health Organisation (WHO) regional coordinator Dr Rajiv Gera said there were several challenges to achieve a polio-free Bihar in 2007. "The positives are that we are vaccinating more children than ever before (2.1 crore children in February and 2.06 crore in April 2006). The number of missed children has declined from 3.6 lakh in April 2005 to 1.35 lakh in April 2006. But we have to maintain the momentum and reach the remaining children too,"Dr Gera said. Bihar currently has 10 of a total of 27 cases in the country. The other 17 are in Uttar Pradesh. Unicef state representative Bijaya Rajbhandari said Bihar needs to work with a sense of urgency. "There is no time to lose. Most of India has gone ahead. The world of advantages will be available to the children of Bihar only if they are healthy and educated,"he said.

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RANJAN RITURAJ SINH

Certainly CREDIT goes with Health Administration and Doctors .