Anti - Polio

Anti-Polio Drive to Shift into High Gear

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The state government will launch a special anti-polio drive in the state come January 13 after having identified 72 blocks in Bihar with most cases of the debilitating disease affecting thousands of children, health officials said at a workshop organized by the state Health department in Patna on Tuesday."We have managed to contain the disease in 75% of the region but we still have a long way to go before we could claim victory over the virus," said program chairperson Dr. Aurn Kumar Thakur adding a special cell with the help of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) would be created in these blocks where information and help on polio would be available round-the-clock.Expressing his hope to rid Bihar from the curse of polio by the end of 2008, UNICEF representative Vijay Rajbhandari said several schemes have been introduced in the state to check the disease from further spreading and with more programs like 'Muskaan' where volunteers travel across the state to administer polio drops among children, it was only a matter of short time before the disease is completely drove away from the state.