MY VOLUNTARY DISSOCIATION FROM THE PULSE POLIO PROGRAM IN KOLKATA

Pulse polio program in Kolkata was started way back in 1995 and during this extended period of 14 years we were never near in achieving our dream of eradicating the disease and have only ourselves to blame for the fiasco. Being associated with the program in the supervisory capacity for more than a decade, I had finally opted for voluntarily dissociating myself from the program , rather than be a part of a futile and misguided effort.

The role of trained human resource and scientific micro-planning has universal acceptance for the successful implementation of any public health program. Selection of proper supervisory staff, arrangements for their uniform training atleast at the borough level (Kolkata city is divided into fifteen boroughs, with each borough comprising of about nine wards), augmentation of the capacity of the same staff to devise daywise-streetwise micro-plans for the program and accountibility are the most important inputs that have been sadly ignored by health administrators responsible for implementing the program in the city.

There was a time when doctors attached to Kolkata Municipal Corporation were appointed as supervisors of the program. With the passage of time and the gradual evolution of the program, the medical personnel were withdrawn with the exception of a few instances and substaff like the supervisors of KUDP, KSIP or IPP VIII Projects, MHAs or Bailiffs were absorbed in their place. Personally I did introduce the concept of accountable sub-supervisors in my ward when I functioned as a supervisor of the program, with the intention of building up the capacities of my subordinate health staff but the concept flourished as long as there was intense supervision from the immediate higher authority. In the present scenario, I think it is time to review such supervisory appointments in the interest of the program or we will keep on revising our targeted year of eradication of the disease in the near future also. Capacity building of selected substaff and their inclusion is always a necessity for the survival of a program but this transition has to be well planned, in a phased manner over a period of time with inbuilt accountibility measures. Motivated health personnel and para-medical workers may be allowed to function in the capacities of supervisors and health workers (those who implement the daily program schedule) after a through assessment of their individual capabilities and be made accountable to their immediate higher authority.

The well circulated myth that Pulse Polio Program has come to stay (there were eight rounds of the program even in 2008) and may be viewed only as an additional source of income without any accountability by all categories of appointees has to be busted, to realise our latest goal of eradicating the disease by 2010.