M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Mar 4: Latehar and Garhwa districts are said to have done ‘wonders and miracles’ in the recently concluded polio vaccination.
Each of the 24 districts in Jharkhand is to achieve 100 percent polio vaccination. Many claimed to have achieved it, many missed it by a whisker and some went achieving ‘more than 100 percent of the polio vaccination.
But apparently, Latehar and Garhwa have achieved more than 100 percent of the polio vaccination. It has raised serious eyebrows giving space for doubt of fudging of the figures of the vaccination.
Latehar had a target of 1,55, 819 polio vaccination. But the district achieved 1, 57, 103 polio vaccinations against the target which takes the percentage to 101% (1,284 excess).
Surveillance Medical Officer of World Health Organisation (WHO) Palamu Dr Mirtunjay Singh said that Latehar did have the target of 1,55,819 polio vaccinations but the figures sent to him showed this district achieved more than the target.
Dr. Singh conceded that these numbers require verifying and checking to find out how 101% of the polio vaccination target was achieved. He said that he would be writing to the Latehar reproductive child health officer to look into it.
He declined to draw any conclusion when asked if figures of the polio vaccination have been fudged. The WHO surveillance medical officer said there may be a possibility of repetition of some figures.
On the other hand, Garhwa had a target of 3,02,792 polio vaccinations but it recorded 3,03,760 vaccinations. It means there were 760 vaccinations over the target fixed for it.
On this, Dr. Singh said that this would also be found out as to how polio vaccination beyond the target is achieved when there appeared no unusual phenomenon of the resurfacing of the kids in the prescribed age group.
The WHO surveillance medical officer said the issue is of concern and requires scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the case of Palamu is very different from these two districts. It slightly lagged behind its 100 percent polio vaccination.
Palamu had a target of 3,82,138 polio vaccination. It achieved 3,80, 974 polio vaccination and fell short of 1,164 polio vaccination which meant 1,164 children remained uncovered in this 3-day polio vaccination drive beginning February 27.
Sources said transit points like railway stations, auto-rickshaw stands, bus stands were not adequately brought under the umbrella of the polio vaccination.
“We did have a large fleet of our polio vaccination team at strategic transit locations. We would find out if at surface transport points our polio vaccination personnel made no appearance or little appearance. However, they did work hard,” said the WHO surveillance medical officer Dr. Singh.
