Click to play videoNew Delhi: Superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai might plead and vociferously vouch for polio immunisation but India's faltering polio campaign has nearly cost the country dear.
The Government has just about managed to defeat a WHO resolution which – if passed at the World Health Assembly in Geneva – would have forced every Indian to carry an immunisation certificate while travelling abroad.
“The WHO decided there shouldn’t be any travel advisory in this session,'' announced Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss.
However, the sigh of relief apart, there's some bad news as well. Polio is spreading and the international community is not taking this lying down.
Therefore, from June 15 onwards, polio, bird flu, small pox and SARS will be treated as world health emergencies. So all member countries will have to inform the WHO in case of an outbreak.
Last year, India saw a 10-fold increase in polio, reporting 676 cases.
“The last time it spread through Nigeria. Countries spent millions of dollars to put it out,” says David Heymann of WHO.
This year alone, the government will pump in Rs 1,300 crore in what's being called the biggest immunisation programme the world has ever seen.
It’s clear India is fast running out of time and if the government doesn't manage to get its act together this time, it won’t be long before Indians will have to carry a “disease-free” certificate each time they travel abroad.
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