Bride and groom administered polio drops

PATNA: It may sound strange but it's true nevertheless. A bride and a groom were administered polio drops by health volunteers in a Bihar village.

The groom, five-year-old Rohan Kumar, and his four-year-old bride Soni Kumari were administered polio drops by  volunteers of the pulse polio eradication drive at Hisua in Nawada district, about 160 km from here.

"A few minutes before the marriage of Rohan and Soni was to be solemnised inside the premises of a temple, two volunteers requested permission to administer polio drops to them. Initially their parents opposed it but after the volunteers convinced them, they relented," said a health official involved in the pulse polio eradication drive in the state.

After the polio drops were administered, Rohan, a resident of Dalit tola of Kahunara village under Nadriganj block, was married to Soni, a resident of Dalit tola of Vazirganj block in Gaya district.

In rural Bihar, hundreds of weddings take place in the traditional marriage season known as 'Lagan', which is currently on.

In view of child marriages, the district health officials posted volunteers to administer polio drops to children under five years of age, including the bride and the groom.

Bihar reported over 200 polio cases till June this year. "Most of the cases are of the polio P3 virus," an official said. 

The flood-prone Samastipur district tops the list. One case of the deadly P1 polio virus was reported from Saran district.