Polio Death Rumours Trigger Panic

By Swati Reddy

It was a polio reaction of a different kind. Thousands of anxious parents and relatives from several parts of Chittoor district made a mad rush to the government hospital here on Monday after rumours spread that some babies had died due to reaction to polio drops administered across the state on Sunday as part of the pulse polio immunisation programme. The rumours spread like wildfire, thanks to a couple of Telugu TV channels which ran scrolls on the reported deaths.

The Tirupati roads were literally chock-a-block as scores of RTC buses, vans and autos, filled with parents with babies in their arms, made their way from various parts of the district to the temple town. Over 10,000 people reportedly rushed to the government Ruia Hospital in Tirupati from Erpedu, Srikalahasti, Madanapalle, Chandragiri and towns as far as Shantipuram and Kuppam, almost 200 km away from here. There was utter pandemonium as doctors had a tough time convincing the panic-stricken parents and relatives that there was no danger to their babies. The reports of deaths, they tried to tell them, were completely baseless.

It all started when a regional channel ran a scroll that two children had died of polio vaccine reaction in Kuppam and Shantipuram. Within minutes another channel displayed a scroll that nearly a dozen children--seven from Bhavani Nagar and five from Jeevakona in Tirupati--had died.

Distraught parents gheraoed doctors at the Ruia Hospital demanding their children be admitted immediately to the paediatric ward.

When the situation turned out of control, superintendent Dr Venkateswarlu had to come out and assure parents that there was no danger to their kids' lives.

"When children do not show any symptoms of vomiting and loose motion soon after the administration of the polio drops, the question of reaction doesn't arise," he said and urged them to drive away such fears.

Later, tense parents vent their anger on media personnel for the false news. A cameraman of a TV channel was reportedly manhandled by the relatives of a baby boy. Talking to TOI, T Chinnamma (30) of Chandragiri lambasted TV channels for running such baseless news. In fact, similar rumours had sent shock waves in Tamil Nadu on Sunday when a regional channel ran the incorrect news.