Nine polio cases in Uttaranchal; 7 from Muslim community

Hardwar, Oct 26 (UNI) Nine polio cases have so far been reported in Uttaranchal, with eight in the district within the last two months.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the district Dr R S Puri told UNI today stool tests had confirmed three new cases of polio.

Seven out of eight reported cases of polio are from the Muslim community. The administration is now planning to specially target the Muslim dominated areas for the next phase of polio immunization drive which begins on November 12.

The three new cases of polio which came to light a few days ago include seven-month-old Shamer of village Baleki, whose parents claim he had been administered polio drops two times.

Seven-month-old Sadan of village Makhanpur has reportedly been given polio drops four times and one-year-old Muskan of village Narsan who has reportedly been administered polio drops six times.

Five polio cases were detected last month. The detection of eight polio cases in the district has sent the alarm bells ringing in the state health department. National Technical Advisor of the Immunization Programme of WHO Shoban Sarkar has arrived here to take stock of the situation.

Dr Puri said since Hardwar formed border with Uttar Pradesh, which is the most polio infected state in the country, the district was also highly vulnerable to the spread of polio virus.

''Even after administration of polio drops, children may get polio due to other factors such as poor hygiene, malnutrition and diarrohea. Besides taking polio drops, it is also essential that all the children are routinely immunized with DPT vaccination,'' the CMO added.

''It will be ensured that no child is left out in the next phases of the pulse polio drive which will be monitored by experts from the national immunization programme,'' said the district health department.

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