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Suspected polio case spurs health officials into action

BERHAMPUR: Following reports of a child being identified with suspected polio virus on Monday, the health officials of Ganjam district of Orissa are on their toes.

According to Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Rasbehari Gochhayat, although confirmatory tests to identify polio infection of the child are awaited yet measures have been started to eradicate possibility of rise in infection of polio virus in the area from where the child came. In the morning, Dhoba Badtya of Golia village near Buguda reached city hospital of Berhampur with his ailing four-year-old child Akash Badtya. Akash had all the symptoms of polio infection. Dhoba was a migrant labourer who used to work in Mumbai. He told newsmen that his son had never taken polio drops.

The CDMO said a detailed test of polio related symptoms of the child would be done and the sample would be sent to central laboratories outside the State for confirmation. But a medical team would be reaching the Golia village to make spot assessment.

As a precautionary measure, a ring vaccination drive against polio would be taken up in a radius of half km from the house of the suspected polio victim. All the children below five years in the area would be vaccinated against polio within a day or two. People of the area would be advised to be cautious about water pollution to save their children from possible polio infection.

In November last year a special pulse polio drive was taken up in Ganjam district and blocks of different districts bordering Ganjam. It followed detection of a polio-infected child in Rangeilunda block of Ganjam district in October, 2007 . The special pulse polio drive was taken up in all the 22 blocks of Ganjam district, six blocks of Gajapati district, six blocks of Puri district and three blocks each of Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur districts.

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