Kochi: While steps are afoot to implement the next phase of pulse polio immunisation programme on February 21, the rationale of giving additional oral polio vaccine (OPV) to a properly vaccinated child is being questioned by a section of doctors, mostly from streams of medicine other than allopathy. Some homoeopathic experts have been extensively campaigning against it.
During a recent district-level meeting, additional district magistrate, Ernakulam, C.V. Sajan raised the issue and wanted the matter to be brought to the attention of the state government.
“I personally have received one or two complaints against doctors advising against administering polio drops to children, which is a nationally-accepted government policy,” he said.
However, Dr Sachidananda Kamath, national president of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), told DC that no paediatrician would discourage parents from giving polio vaccination to children.
“There might be cases when doctors advise not to give the additional OPV as part of vaccination campaign if the child is properly vaccinated. To prevent such instances, awareness creation is necessary among medical fraternity,” he said.
Meanwhile, district medical officer Dr. N.K Kuttappan said that compared to other districts, the tendency to discourage polio immunization was less in Ernakulam. “Very rare such instances have been reported here. But doctors, especially practising other branches of medicines, campaigning against polio vaccination is more in Malabar areas,” he said.
“In fact, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) has introduced a programme called ‘Amrutha Kiranam’ to address the issue of campaign by medical doctors against polio vaccination and to create awareness among the public,” he added.
However, Dr. M. Narayanan, vice-president of Indian Medical Association, Kochi chapter, told DC that such reports might be based on misunderstanding and that no doctor will discourage polio immunisation.
“IMA has been supporting the immunisation programme at all levels. However, there are reports of doctors from other branches of medicine discouraging it,” he said.
Experts dismiss charge
Even though the country has an accepted national policy on pulse polio immunization, there are differences of opinion even among the medical fraternity about its rationale. Though the country has been declared as a polio-free nation, efforts are on to prevent the reappearance of the disease. The national pulse polio immunization programme, under which OPV drops are administered to all children under the age of five years, aims at completely eradicating the virus.
According to health experts, OPV is safe and multiple doses will not result in side effects or an overdose. The only thing is that if the scheduled immunization date of the child falls very close to the pulse polio programme date, one should check with one’s doctor if the baby needs to be given the polio drops again.
Meanwhile, strongly criticizing the pulse polio immunization programme, Dr. P.G Hari, a homoeopathic doctor from Wayand, who has been campaigning against it for several years said, “The only objective of the OPV programme is to help the drug company. The programme does not have any impact on prevention of polio. Improvement of drinking water and toilet facilities have resulted in eradication of the disease, which spreads through stool, contaminated water or food , and not because of the vaccination.”
