Gross wastage of vaccine impeding anti-polio drive?

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI, MAY 20. The nation-wide polio eradication drive is facing the threat of being derailed due to large-scale wastage of the vaccine. It has been officially estimated that as much as 25 per cent of the vaccine is going waste, despite efforts to strengthen the mechanism to preserve and conserve it.

The problem, which is by no means new, has assumed serious proportions now as there is an acute shortage of the vaccine globally, as every other country is racing towards total eradication of the disease from their territories and every drop counts. The WHO has fixed the year 2005 for the world to be certified as polio-free and India is among the 20 countries that are lagging behind.

Even last year, there was an acute shortage of the vaccine, but thanks to assistance from international organisations engaged in polio eradication, the programme managers somehow managed to procure the necessary quantities. The donor agencies, which are one of the main pillars of the anti- polio efforts, have already begun questioning as to how there could be such gross wastage.

The issue figured prominently during a meeting, convened here by the Union Health Ministry, of State-level officers in charge of immunisation, on May 16 and 17.

This topic will come up again during a meeting of State Family Welfare Secretaries scheduled to be held early next month.

Besides the problem of wastage, managers of the anti- polio programme at the national level are worried over delays on the part of a number of States in submitting statements of their expenditure on the programme.

This is causing immense difficulties in getting funds from the donor agencies, as their support was dependent on submission of expenditure statements in time.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Building the French connection
Next     : Environment Ministry plans 'ecocities'