Author: Biswajit Roy
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 3, 2002
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=24001562
The post-9/11 fear and hatred of
anything American, even medicines, has provoked resistance against polio
immunisation among a section of mostly poor and illiterate Muslims in West
Bengal. This has led to an increase in the number of polio cases in the
minority dominated Murshidabad district.
An alarmed state government has
initiated a house-to-house immunisation campaign with the help of NGOs
and Muslim leaders in Murshidabad and adjoining Malda and Birbhum since
Sunday as part of a "sub-national immunisation programme".
Three blocks of Purulia district
- Para, Raghunathpur and Naturia - will also be covered by the intensive
immunisation due to its proximity to Jharkhand state, also identified as
a low immunisation area, said state director of family welfare R.P.S Kahlon
in Kolkata. "Villagers were told that the polio drops were made by the
Americans to make the Muslim children infertile. We have come across women
who were beaten up for allowing our health workers to administer the polio
drops to children," he said.
"This sort of misinformation has
created a mental block against immunisation in Murshidabad, Malda and parts
of South 24- Parganas. We faced similar attitudes in pockets of Kolkata,
including Metiabruz and Garden Reach ,'' he said. According to him, as
many as 21 polio cases were reported from Jangipur subdivision of Murshidabad
since May while another case from Murarai in neighbouring Birbhum. All
these children belonged to the minority community.
Officially, only a single case was
reported last year in contrast to 22 this year. This has reversed the process
of polio eradication in the state. In 1997, 31 cases had been reported,
in 1998 it came down to 26 and the next year it was 21. In 2000, the number
had come down to eight. To allay the fear of the minorities, efforts are
on to involve local Muslim leaders, including teachers, politicians, NGO
workers, panchayat leaders as well imams of mosques and maulvis, in the
immunisation campaign.
Imam of Kolkata's Nakhoda Masjid,
Md Sabir, has lent his support to the move and video cassettes of his appeal
to parents to get their children immunised has helped health workers. But
politicians, barring a few exceptions, have been found wanting. "They are
reluctant to go against the dominant mood within the community as it may
risk their political fortunes,'' said an official.
The state government has initiated
a house-to-house immunisation cam-paign with the help of NGOs and Muslim
leaders in Murshidabad, Malda and Birbhum districts Three blocks of Purulia
district - Para, Raghunathpur and Naturia - will also be covered by intensive
immunisation Officially, only a single case was reported last year in contrast
to 22 this year. This has reversed the process of polio eradication in
the state.
