The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Polio vaccination: Anbumani wants rumour mongers booked under NSA

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Polio vaccination: Anbumani wants rumour mongers booked under NSA

Special Correspondent

Oral polio vaccine completely safe, avers Union Health Minister

— Photo: S. Thanthoni

HONOURING THE GUEST: A student presenting an art work to Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, at a seminar at D.G.Vaishnav College in Chennai on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Those identified as having spread rumours about polio vaccination causing the deaths of children must be booked under the National Security Act, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Thursday.

To spread rumours about an issue such as vaccination, which affects the lives of millions of children, was tantamount to committing an act against the State, Dr.Anbumani said. The media that was party to spreading the rumours must also be proceeded against. While urging the media to be restrained and apolitical, he assured parents that the oral polio vaccine was completely safe.

Speaking at the inaugural of a seminar on Disease Control Priorities in India organised by the Department of Microbiology of D.G. Vaishnav College here, Dr. Anbumani outlined the health challenges that the country had to grapple with.

From fighting maternal and infant mortality, under nutrition and unfavourable sex ratios, to infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, to handling non communicable diseases such as stroke, diabetes, hypertension and cancer, the country’s health administration had a tough task ahead of it.

“Anything in India is large, thanks to the size of our population,” Dr.Anbumani said. Though some of the prevalence rates of diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis were low, the numbers were large enough to warrant concern. However, in both these sectors, the government had made significant strides towards creating awareness on prevention and stabilising the epidemic (in case of HIV) and cures (in case of TB).

India has also begun to invest heavily in healthcare unlike in the past. Four and a half years ago, the health budget was Rs.6000 crore. Now, it has been increased to Rs.16,500 crore. The Five Year Plan allocation for health had also gone up dramatically, with the 11th Plan allocation hovering at Rs.1,40,000 crore, he said.

A number of schemes had also been launched to improve healthcare services and make them accessible and affordable to all, especially in rural areas. The National Rural Health Mission was conceived with the aim of doing just this and had tasted success within two years of its implementation.

The increase in number of women coming to institutions for delivery, increased immunisation coverage and intensive preventive public health campaigns were all success stories, he explained.

India will have to take on the non communicable diseases challenge head on to ensure the health and well being of its youth and their productivity. At the same time, it was important to pay attention to infectious diseases and eliminate or eradicate them, Dr.Anbumani said.

M.Ganapathy, dean, Meenakshi Medical College, Kancheepuram, said the government would have to invest in health and evolve a cost-effective model to take healthcare to all. He also called for a focus on women’s healthcare, training the health workforce and increasing disease surveillance systems in the country.

S.Narasimhan, principal, D.G. Vaishnav College, said it offered more than 50 programmes at all levels of higher learning and research, with about 5500 students on the rolls. P.Vidya, Microbiology department head, explained the key objectives of the seminar. D.G.Vaishnav secretary S.R.Damani spoke.

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