From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Jan 19: The continuous nation-wide campaign undertaken by the Government of India over the last 19 years has helped in making the country polio-free, said Karnataka’s Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader in Bangalore on Sunday.

Launching this year’s pulse polio campaign to cover all children in the 0-5 age group in Bangalore by administering the pulse polio drops to a 5-year-old child, he said Karnataka has set a target for covering 75 lac children through 32,000 booths all over the State this year.
 
The minister urged all parents, especially mothers to ensure that pulse polio drops were regularly administered to young kinds to prevent recurrence of the dreaded disease. The pulse polio drops must be compulsorily taken as otherwise the future of the children would be endangered, he said.
 
State Health and Family Welfare Department Secretary M Madan Gopal cautioned the people that polio menace was likely to recur if sufficient precautions were not taken. Immigrants to the country, especially people from countries like Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are yet to be free from the polio menace, were likely to be the carriers during their visits, he said.
 
Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Department, National Health Mission Director Dr K Suresh, Deputy Commissioner Dr G C Prakash and State Health and Family Welfare Department Director Dr Geetha Nyamagoudar were present.