Kolkata, Sept 14: Nearly 94.5 lakh children upto the age of five were today administered pulse polio drops in West Bengal which has in recent times seen a spurt in the spread of the crippling disease. At least 3.78 lakh centres were opened to administer the polio drops, which were operated by 1.5 lakh state health department workers alongwith lakhs of volunteers and school teachers, official sources said here.
Special stress was given on South 24-Parganas district, which has seen infliction of the disease among some children in the recent past.
Inaugurating the pulse polio drive in Murshidabad district this morning, state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asked the people to extend their help to ensure the success of the pulse polio drive.
"The country should be made polio-free and all children below the age of five years should be administered the vaccine," the Chief Minister said.
A large number of madrasa students, moulavis as well as purohits were seen moving around to convince people of all sections to ensure that their children were administered the vaccine.
The authorities deployed boats to carry the vaccine to flood-hit areas of Bhagabangola and Farakka in the district. Bureau Report