2013 National Pulse Polio campaign inaugurated at Jaipur

In an effort to ensure that India remains polio free, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated a pulse polio campaign of 2013 in Jaipur by administering polio drops to a seven-month-old child at the Jaipuria hospital on Sunday.

17 children from Pakistan were also immunised at Munabao railway station by officials of the Rajasthan's medical health and family welfare department a day ahead of the national pulse polio campaign, reported TOI. India's close proximity to polio endemic Pakistan and Afghanistan, the significant movement of the international population and the fact that India has exported polio to countries near and far such as Nepal, Tajikistan, Angola and Bangladesh puts this country at the risk of importing the polio virus.

Speaking at the event, Azad said that the government is taking serious steps to eradicate polio from the country and appealed to the people take their children below 5 years of age to polio booths.

No cases of polio have been reported in India for the last two years. The last polio case was detected in India in 2011. Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) took India off the list of polio endemic countries in February 2012, it will declare it 'polio free' only if no fresh case is reported for the next one year. The entire machinery for the polio eradication programme is now geared towards boosting the Routine Immunisation (RI) coverage. India is observing 2012-13 as the year of intensifying routine immunisation.

With inputs from IANS

Speaking at the event, Azad said that the government is taking serious steps to eradicate polio from the country and appealed to the people take their under-5 children to polio booths.