Doctored response

Ranjana Sharma has found a unique way to counter resistance to polio drops

A year ago, polio was a dirty word in the Muslim-dominated Sahadatganj area of old Lucknow. Fortified with rumours, stubborn in their beliefs, the people refused to have their children administered polio drops. Doctors and health workers were hounded out of the locality, WHO teams failed to scale down the hostility and the city magistrate was unceremoniously shown the door. There was no way the drops would breach the resistance.

This was before the residents ran into Ranjana Sharma. Within a year, the 44-year-old gynaecologist at the Government Maternity Hospital in Lucknow has rendered a change of heart that is nothing short of miraculous. Not only is Sharma welcomed in the area but all the 100-odd hostile households have turned pliant, willingly giving the once-dreaded polio drops to their kids. It8217;s a good precedence in a state that has the maximum number of 26 polio cases of the 44 registered in the country this year.

8220;Initially, people would chase us with iron rods as soon as they heard of polio drops, thinking it would lead to impotency and other illnesses,8221; says Sharma. 8220;So we started by dropping these two words and talking to them about other problems. I treated slum children for burns, gave tips to women on better living and even distributed free medicines,8221; says Sharma, who was sneered at when she volunteered to go to the polio-resistant areas.

So she was allocated the 8220;easier8221;, posh colonies to prove her calibre. When she managed to convince people within months, Sharma was asked to tackle Sahadatganj. Since her incredible success here, she has converted people in other areas like Sevasadan, Nadarganj, Kasaibaara, Maulviganj, Alinganj and is now heading a separate team that works in difficult areas in and around the state capital. On her visits, she is accompanied by two nurses, and has even trained other doctors, who now work independently.

8220;She has succeeded where everyone had failed,8221; says Jai Singh, the district immunisation officer in Lucknow. 8220;She has been able to convince people in the most difficult areas where they had even been taken in police custody for spreading rumours about polio drops.8221;

Sharma8217;s mantra: 8220;Connect to them.8221; It8217;s a tested formula. At the Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, Agra, where she worked earlier, Sharma made a difference. Now the magic is working in Lucknow.

8220;Once people started confiding in me, I asked them why they were resisting. In most cases, it was merely a show of strength,8221; says Sharma. But people started believing her only after they saw people recover from the medicines she gave them.

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Chaudhary Yusuf Ali was one such parent. 8220;Initially there were problems, but now people listen to her. It was the first time someone listened to their problems and spoke politely to them.8221;