SIMI spanner in polio eradication drive?

Nashik police tell high court banned outfit has brainwashed hundreds against pulse polio, but independent study by experts rubbishes claim

Can brainwashing by activists of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) be behind the persistent refusal of over 500 families to administer pulse polio drops to their children? The Nashik police claim so.

In an affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court that makes a case for the continuation of the ban on
the organisation, the Nashik (Rural) police have claimed that SIMI is responsible for sabotaging the pulse polio campaign in the communally sensitive areas of Malegaon in Nashik district and Bhiwandi.

However, an independent investigation by experts from the bureau of family welfare of the state health department has rubbished these claims.

Extensive probe
While the police claimed that the SIMI is using religious outfits to oppose the polio drive, the enquiry reveals how religious leaders have in fact, helped spread the popularity of the campaign.

"The last pulse polio drive was on February 7, during which, around 500-odd families refused to allow their kids to be immunised. We had a team of 5-6 field surveillance experts who then surveyed this area, met these families, local area experts, and community leaders. There was no instance where we found that they were told by someone not to take the drops, but only a misconception," said Dr V M Kulkarni, assistant director, State Family Welfare Bureau.

Eradication dream
Last month, an 18-year-old boy, Mohammed Kasir Asrar Ahmed, from Malegaon was found to be affected
with the P1 strain of the polio virus.

In 2008, the World Health Organisation had declared that India was free of the P1 strain.

"Shocked by the emergence of this case, officials were forced into action. It was known that families in this area were refusing polio immunisations, and there were allegations of anti-national organisations playing mischief too. So a taskforce was set up," said a senior official requesting anonymity.

MiD Day also spoke to Dr Mohammed Ahmed, one of the field surveillance officers involved in this project and learnt that there was no SIMI hand.

"Refusals aren't just from Muslim families; 30 per cent of the population is Hindu. So resistance is on both sides. The reasons for refusals were many -- some thought it had serious side effects, others thought they didn't need it, as it was artificial. But no one implied, directly or indirectly, that any organisation was spreading misinformation about polio drops or instigating people against it."