Health and Family Welfare Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) Dr ASM Matiur Rahman said this at a press conference at secretariat yesterday.

Emphasising the need for unity in combating the disease, he urged the people of all walks of life to bring their children to the nearby permanent immunisation centers on March 3 for feeding two drops of polio vaccine to make a success the first round of the programme.

He said all the centers would remain open from 8:00am to 4:00pm and the children, who took their regular vaccine from the centers, must be fed again the polio vaccine on this day.

The adviser said about 700,000 volunteers, including field workers of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, teachers of school and madrasa, members of Ansar-VDP and workers of NGOs, will feed the children with polio vaccine at some 140,000 immunisation centres across the country.

Besides, he said temporary centres will also be opened in different areas like bus stands, rail-stations, airports, land ports, launch ghats and all toll collecting centres near the bridges so that no child is excluded from the programme.

Dr Matiur said in the second round of programme on April 8, children from one to five years old will be fed a highly potent vitamin A capsule and the children from two to five years given an anti-worm tablet each along with polio vaccine.

"Seventeen polio affected patients were found in Bangladesh until yesterday. Our country is not safe, as India and Pakistan are not polio-free countries. Polio is endemic in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, so it can easily enter our country," he said with a note of caution.