Indian Medical Association appeals
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 02 2024:
The Indian Medical Association has urged people to administer polio drops to children under 5 years of age during the Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization Programme from March 3 to 5 .
At IMA House in Lamphelpat, Manipur State IMA president Dr RK Lenin Singh said polio drops do not cause any harm to children.
The pulse polio immunization programme aims to protect children from polio virus which causes polio and further secure India's position as a polio free country, he said.
When India is free of polio, neighbouring countries are not yet free from it.
The intensified pulse polio immunization programme, first launched in 1995, is being organised to prevent possible spread of polio to India from the neighbouring countries, he added.
Parents and guardians should compulsorily get their children under the age of 5 administered with polio drops from March 3 to 5, he added.
IMA Manipur general secretary Dr S Goutam said the National Immunization Day or the Intensified Pulse Polio Immunization Programme is organised yearly all over India.
"Every child under 5 including newly born babies should be administered polio drops without fail.
Polio infection may put children's lives at risk," he said.
In its most severe form, polio causes paralysis of limbs.
It can also lead to trouble breathing and sometimes death.
The disease also is called poliomyelitis.
The last polio case was detected in India in 2011 in West Bengal, and three years later, India was declared a polio free country by the World Health Organisation, Dr Goutam said.
Pulse polio drops are given at polio booths, opened in localities, and all Government hospitals.