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It is now `polio Sunday'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI May 14. In a bid to make the national polio eradication campaign more popular, the Centre has proposed to give it a new identity. It will now be called `polio Sunday' or `polio ravivar'.

Announcing this, the Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, said the new name was thought of since the current term "national pulse polio immunisation day" sounded highly technical. Consequently, the common man was unable to associate with it.

The new simpler name, on the other hand, is expected to make it a popular movement as it should be. The appellation `Sunday' or `ravivar' was thought of since the immunisation programmes were conducted on Sundays and subsequently it would help in better public recall.

The idea was mooted at a meeting convened here today to review the preparedness for the sub-national immunisation day slated for June 1 in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which had witnessed a resurgence of polio cases last year. The meeting was attended by the Health Ministers of three States and Health Secretaries of seven States.

Ms. Swaraj also announced that she would go to Kolkata for the launch of the June 1 immunisation programme considering that there was a resurgence of polio cases in West Bengal even while the State was on the verge of becoming polio-free. In the last three months, West Bengal had accounted for 11 cases of the national total of 26, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 8, Bihar 3, Rajasthan 2 and one each in Delhi and Orissa.

To a question, she said it was true that Muslims in some areas, particularly Uttar Pradesh, had been refusing to let their children be given polio drops because of some mis-apprehensions. Efforts were on to overcome the problem with the help of leaders from the community, including MPs and MLAs.

Pointing out that a new slogan had been coined to ensure 100 per cent coverage on immunisation days, she said that even if one child was left out it could jeopardise the entire effort to eliminate the crippling disease. The new slogan is: "yadi ek bacha bi choota, tho samjo pura chakra tuta (even if one child is missed, consider that whole cycle has been broken)".

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