KP reports two more polio cases

PESHAWAR: Despite hectic efforts by national and international organisations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday reported two more polio cases, raising the number of the cases to 80 in Pakistan and 59 in KP this year.The National Institute of Health Islamabad (NIH) confirmed the two new polio cases reported from LakkiMarwat and Tank districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Nine-month-old male child from Bakhmal Ahmadzai in Sara-e-Naurang in LakkiMarwat district and 14-month old boy from Pai area in Tank district were the two victims of poliovirus.According to officials of the KP Health Department, the two children were not given any dose for essential immunisation and their status for polio vaccination was under investigation. Pakistan this year has reported 80 polio cases, of which KP alone produced 59 cases.Sindh reported nine polio cases, Balochistan seven and Punjab five cases in 2019. Officials engaged in the polio eradication efforts in the province told The News that they were facing a host of challenges in reaching every child in the vaccination campaign due to multiple issues.“There are multiple issues and efforts are underway to overcome the challenges we are facing in reaching every child,” an official associated with polio eradication programme told The News in Peshawar.Pleading anonymity, he said a majority of the parents have now realised that only vaccination can protect children from polio. Besides refusals, the official said the programme was facing some administrative problems being caused by people having political backings.In Peshawar, the official said interference in the programme by certain people was affecting the campaign. He said several people were inducted in the programme without following merit or their security clearance in the past and some of them were fired after inquiries against them.However, the officials claimed that most of them have been brought back to their previous positions and others are being restored due to their strong connections. “The previous coordinator for Emergency Operations Centre had put the polio programme on right track and initiated inquiries against people involved in corrupt practices, some of them facing sexual harassment charges. It had encouraged the majority of polio workers to own the programme and had brought a dramatic reduction in the number of refusals in Peshawar and other districts,” said an insider of the programme.He hoped the new EOC coordinator would follow his predecessor in taking disciplinary action against the elements accused of corruption and sexual harassment.Meanwhile, Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit said that polio vaccine was completely safe and it did not cause any harm upon administration, adding that the entire world including Muslim countries has eradicated polio using the same vaccine. “It is a matter of serious concern that polio continues to disable our children even though the government is making efforts to ensure timely administration of the anti-polio vaccine to the children at their doorsteps,” said Abdul Basit. He said that parents should not pay attention to anti-polio propaganda and protect their children from permanent disability by administering anti-polio drops to their kids.

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