Seventh polio case confirmed in country

PESHAWAR: The government claim of eradicating polio from the country seems to be misleading as another case of the crippling disease emerged in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa bringing the total number of children hit by the virus this year to seven.

According to reports, a seven-month-old girl in K-P’s tribal district North Waziristan was the latest victim of the virus. Her disability was reported on May 2.

Out of the seven cases, six cases have been reported from tehsil Mir Ali, North Waziristan.

Confirming the development, Health Minister Qadir Patel said that polio had re-emerged in North Waziristan on the pattern of 2014 and 2019.

“We are working tirelessly to eradicate the crippling virus from the country,” he said.

The southern districts of K-P including North and South Waziristan, DI Khan, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat are susceptible to polio.

The virus was detected in two environmental samples from Bannu in April and May this year, confirming that the spread of polio is not limited to North Waziristan.

Meanwhile, 43 million children were administered polio drops as the second nationwide anti-polio drive concluded.

The five-day campaign, which kicked off on May 23 in Pakistan, also started in Afghanistan simultaneously.

More than 340,000 trained staff administered anti-polio drops to children by visiting them at their doorsteps. They also gave an additional dose of Vitamin A to boost minors’ immunity.

National Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Dr Shehzad Baig while expressing satisfaction over the achievement of the polio campaign targets maintained that Pakistan had “performed well in the last one-and-a-half-years”. However, he said that “tireless efforts” were required to achieve the desired goals.