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Polio virus scare: TS govt urges public not to panic
The Telangana government announced a special campaign after polio virus was detected in the city sewer, even as it assured on Wednesday that there was no need to panic and India would retain its polio-free status.
​Hyderabad: The Telangana government announced a special campaign after polio virus was detected in the city sewer, even as it assured on Wednesday that there was no need to panic and India would retain its polio-free status.
The special pulse polio drive will be held for six days in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district, and will be organised with the help of trained medical volunteers, anganwadi workers, community resource persons and NGO activists from June 20 to 26. It is learnt that the department has imported 2,00,000 vaccines from Geneva for this purpose.
The inactivated polio vaccine injection will be given in a phased manner and all the volunteers from the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and Rotary Club will participate in the campaign.
According to reports, around 3,00,000 children from 12 high-risk locations in Hyderabad will be vaccinated by the health department officials.
The virus (vaccine derived polio virus type-II) was found in the lab tests conducted on samples of sewerage water collected at Amberpet on May 17, according to Rajeshwar Tiwari, Principal Secretary (Health) of the state government. The virus was found during the routine checks conducted as part of the monitoring system put in place after polio was eradicated in the country in 2011.
"The government decided to conduct a special campaign against polio here and in parts of Ranga Reddy district from June 20 to June 26," he said.
The campaign will target children in the age group of six weeks to three years.
Holding an emergency meeting to review the situation, state health minister Dr C Lakshma Reddy said that there was no need to panic and that the virus strain was detected in Delhi in October last year, besides in parts of Gujarat and Bihar.
“The government will bear the entire cost of medicines and vaccines to be administered to the children in these areas. We are appealing to all parents to administer vaccines to their children in the age group of six weeks to three years,” Dr Reddy was quoted as saying.
Principal secretary, health, R. Trivedi said, “There is no need to panic. As India has been declared polio-free, tests are carried out regularly to ascertain if there are traces of polio virus in the environment. Once found, vaccination has to be carried out again in that area so that the children are not affected.”
India was certified polio free in 2014 after no new polio cases were reported across the country since 2011, the last case from West Bengal.
