Administering Polio No Mean Task In U P

Opposition to pulse polio drive in this industrial city, thanks to lack of awareness and rumour mongering, was giving a hard time to Uttar Pradesh health department staff who had to face the ire of ignorant villagers.

The health department staff who went door-to-door to administer polio on May 21 were either thrown out or had cow dung applied on their faces.

Chief Medical Officer Vijay Shanker Singh said a woman employee of health department was pushed out from a house in Babupurwa locality, causing injury and had to be hospitalised.

He said the health department team was beaten up by the villagers in Bilhaur area and had cow dung applied on their faces.

The CMO attributed this to ignorance about polio or rumour mongering that the children taking polio drops would become impotent or fall sick.

However, he said there was no lapse on part of government publicity towards polio drive. 'If there was any such lapse, the state could not have been put on the path of polio eradication,' he added.

Singh said the drive against polio was in the last stage and there was no fresh case of the affliction in Kanpur so far.

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He said a case has been registered against the person who had pushed down the woman employee in Babupurwa area of the city. Similarly action was also being taken against villagers who applied cow dung on the health employees in Bilhaur.

Source:PTI News