Bangladesh at risk of polio from India

By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurating the 19th National Immunisation Day in Dhaka by administering an anti-polio capsule to a toddler at her official residence

Health Minister A F M Ruhal Haque has said Bangladesh is at the risk of polio as neighbouring India is not free from the contagious disease.
The minister was addressing a press conference at Mohakhali EPI Building in Dhaka city yesterday on the occasion of the 19th National Immunisation Day.
Claiming that no polio patient has been detected over the last four years in the country, the minister said Bangladesh is in a much better position in the south. "Southeast Asian countries could not yet secure the polio-free certificate.”
To get the certificate from the World Health Organisation, he said, polio has to be on a zero level for three consecutive years.
Asked whether any action will be taken against the physicians for not visiting rural areas, the minister said a monitoring committee had been formed to ensure physicians presence in rural areas.
"The committee is visiting different hospitals. Physicians will have to go to the specified locations to keep their jobs. The situation will improve in two years,” the minister said.
On the National Immunisation Day, the minister said the first round would begin on January 8 while the second round on February 12.
As usual, he said, all children under five would be given two drops of polio vaccine during both the phases.
Twenty mobile teams will be sent to remote areas to distribute polio vaccines.
Officials said some 2.2mn children under five will be fed two drops of polio vaccine in each of these phases.