BY IANS,
New Delhi : Though India reported just one case of polio this year, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Sunday efforts to contain the virus will be intensified, amid the risk of the disease creeping in from Pakistan and China.
Thirty-nine cases were reported last year. In his message for the World Polio Day Monday, Azad called the lower incidence this year remarkable, but cautioned against lingering risks.
“We are close to our goal but not taking any chances,” he said. “Efforts will be intensified in the country to stop residual polio virus circulation and also prevent international importation.”
Pakistan is experiencing a spurt in polio cases and the virus has reinfected China.
“To mitigate the risk of importation from Pakistan, immunisation has begun at the Wagah border and Attari train station in Punjab since September and Munabo in Barmer district of Rajasthan this month,” Azad said.
“All children crossing over into India by road and train are being administered polio vaccine,” he added.
“An alert has been sounded in the states bordering China to step up polio surveillance,” Azad said. “Continuous vaccination is also being carried out at 81 transit points along the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar since April.”
Azad said remarkable progress followed the introduction of bivalent oral polio vaccine and persistent efforts in high-risk areas over the last few years in reaching vulnerable populations such as the newborns, migrants and mobile populations.
Only one polio case — from Howrah district in West Bengal — has been detected in the country this year, making it the longest polio-free period since eradication efforts were launched.
According to the health ministry, for the first time no case of polio has been reported from Uttar Pradesh (since April 2010) and also from Bihar (since September 2010). No case of Type 3 polio has been reported for over a year.
Closest ever to eradicating polio, the ministry has decided to treat any fresh case of polio as a “public health emergency” in order to achieve polio eradication in India at the earliest.