Author: M V R Rao
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 29, 2003
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=24763
* Eighteen-month-old Nazneen, daughter
of a poor rickshaw- puller, had barely learnt to crawl when her limbs went
limp. Struck by polio, she is now crippled for life and won't walk ever
again.
* Gabbar Khan, six months older
to Naznin, shares her fate. He will never stand erect on his legs again.
Polio struck him a few months back.
More and more children in Aligarh
district are ending up with twisted limbs as organisations like the WHO,
UNICEF and Rotary International and the district authorities find that
their concerted campaign against the disease is proving to be hopelessly
inadequate.
By last weekend, 10 children had
made it to this year's list, and Monday brought more bad news. Nihal Syed
of Upar Kot mohalla joined the mounting statistics. And all these children
are Muslims. District chief medical officer Dr M P Bansal is quite worried.
Going by population density West
Bengal's 24 Parganas South with 12 cases is worst but this is bad enough.
And seven of these cases are from urban areas. (UP with 27 and Bengal with
23 have also reported the highest number of polio cases out of a cumulative
total of 81 detected in the country so far. In 2002, Azamgarh had reported
81 cases which was the highest among districts.) Chief Minister Mayawati
has warned all district magistrates that this could be their waterloo even
as they get ready for the next round of Pulse Polio this Sunday.
Influential community members have
been roped in. Prominent among them is Aligarh Muslim University's IAS
officer-turned-Vice Chancellor Dr Naseem Ahmed. He has been visiting the
Jama Masjids in Aligarh and other Muslim- dominated, vulnerable towns like
Moradabad and Azamgarh and speaking to the devout after 'Jummey ki namaaz'
which ensures large congregations. He has roped in the entire university
staff in this effort, perhaps, embarrassed by this alarming turn of events
in the university's backyard.
Despite an ad blitz on television,
religious prejudices, rumours and conspiracy theories are proving to be
more potent than the polio drops. Most people fear that the drops may cause
impotency and quacks and vested interests are fanning fears. Ulsan, a mother
of five children, says she first gave the drops to her kids. ''Par jab
yeh kaha jaaney laga ki issay namardi ho jayegi, mainey dawa pilani band
kar di,'' she told The Indian Express. Later she saw reason and returned
but that's not true in most cases.
In areas like Bhojpura and Jeevangarh,
the campaign is seen to be a saffron ploy to control and then decimate
the Muslims. At a roadside tea-stall, Irfan and others even blamed it all
on ''Amrika ki saazish'' (US conspiracy).
Dr Hanif Ahmed Khan, a medical practitioner
who coordinates the campaign in the high-risk Jeevangarh area, says they
even point out that the ''gora sahibs'' and ''gori mems'' (officials of
the WHO and NGOs) come so often only to implement their ''diabolical designs''.
Pulse polio volunteers run the risk
of being beaten up. CMO Dr Bansal says there are still 1,500 houses in
different areas where they simply refused to listen.
Health workers Riazuddin and Farah
in Bhojpura say they lock up their houses and send their children away.
Dr Khan says many even confront them with ''Nahin pilatey, hamari marzi,
koi zabardasti hai kya?'' (We won't give the drops, will you force us?''
Aggressive residents know how to
put the medical teams on the defensive. ''Why do you keep coming back for
polio drops? What about other diseases?'' they ask, with a dash of some
genuine grievances. ''Have you provided us with basic sanitation and medicare,''
they demand.
Dr Athar Ansari of the local J N
Medical College's community medicine department points out that the coliform
count (faecal contamination) of water in most slum areas is as high as
180 MPN/100 ml against the ''tolerable limit'' of 10. ''Running a vertical
programme in isolation without providing basic amenities cannot succeed,''
he insists.
High-risk areas like Bhujpura, Jeevangarh
and Shahjamal are situated virtually on garbage dumps. One infected kid
relieving himself in the open tends to spread the infection.
A high rate of illiteracy, lack
of health consciousness and hygience and poverty spells doom for the Muslim-dominated
areas from where most cases have been reported, says Dr Tabassum Shahab
of the Department of Paediatrics at J N Medical College.
Take the case of two-year-old Gabbar
whose grandfather, Mumtaz Netaji, runs a dairy at his house in this thickly
congested area. He was administered the drops only once or twice and couldn't
keep polio away. Today, his grandfather, along with his wife, Khatun, no
longer says it's ''Allah ki marzi'' (It's God's wish). He is trying to
motivate his community.
According to Dr Tabassum Shahab,
Muslims accounted for 70 per cent of the polio cases in 2001. Last year
the figure declined to 58, but this year it has already risen to 80.
Officials must share part of the
blame. In most urban areas, the micro plan for coverage was incomplete
and some areas and houses were left out in Shahzamal, Upar Kot, Bhujpura
and Lodha.
Untrained volunteers compounded
the problem. Sources say that in some cases the cold chain was broken because
of poor storage and refrigeration problems, aggravated by power cuts. Experts
say the numbers could be just the tip of the iceberg as polio case occur
in large numbers from June onwards.
'The 2002 polio epidemic had forced
the states to gear up. The main issue now is to translate all the preparedness
into accountability. The virus is alive and kicking and if we there are
any lacunae in the June pulse polio programme, the situation can turn grave,''
said Dr Sobhan Sarkar, deputy commissioner, child health, and In-charge
of Polio Eradication, Ministry of Health.
