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Polio can be eradicated by 2010: paediatricians

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI DEC. 27. The State unit of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics has said it was possible to eradicate polio by 2010. This was "a more realistic timeframe;" not 2005, paediatricians said.

"I had predicted that eradicating by 2005 was impossible," said A. Parthasarathy, a patron for the coming 41st national conference of the IAP, PEDICON 2004, here. "But I was told that I was being pessimistic. The recent instances of polio in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and some northern States have shown that 2010 was a more realistic timeframe," he added.

No polio case should be detected for three consecutive years in a State for it to be declared polio free. Tamil Nadu was well on its way to achieving this status when an incident was discovered recently.

Nevertheless, the dramatic reduction in the numbers afflicted by polio pointed to the substantial progress made by the State and the immense impact of the immunisation programme. The recent cases had led to a strengthening of the sentinel surveillance and immunisation delivery mechanisms, said the PEDICON 2004 organising chairperson, M.B. Raghu.

The national conference, to be held in Chennai, will witness about 5,000 paediatricians converging here to discuss the re-emergence of polio and the new challenges before the profession, said A. Balachandran, organising secretary. The conference will be held from January 8 to 11 at the Sri Ramachandra Medical College, Porur. The Governor, P.S. Ramamohan Rao, will inaugurate the conference on January 8.

A total of 320 scientific papers will be presented during the conference, said the chairperson, scientific committee, M. Vijayakumar. Of this, a little over 150 will be free papers and another equal number, poster presentations.

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