A day after Karachi’s first case surfaces, govt again postpones polio drive

Health dept claims security situation does not allow workers to administer vaccines.

KARACHI:

A day after the first case of polio disease was confirmed in over a year, the government decided to postpone the anti-polio drive - which was expected to begin in the first week of February - due to security concerns.

According to health authorities, the drive is being postponed due to the ongoing incidents of violence in Karachi and the unavailability of a sufficient number of police and Rangers to guard the campaign workers.

“There are multiple killings in the city every day. It is not possible to conduct campaign in such conditions,” said an official from the health department requesting anonymity. “We cannot afford any more incidents like the one in December.”

Meanwhile, health department officials in Islamabad tested blood samples of 24-month-old Musharaf Usman, a resident of Bin Qasim Town, and confirmed on Friday that he suffered from the disease.

In the December round of the door-to-door campaign, the health department had hoped to vaccinate 4.4 million children in 22 districts of Sindh. However, the campaign had to be stopped after five female health workers were shot dead in Karachi on December 17. After the incident, the health department decided that the campaign would be conducted in a more erratic manner in Karachi with different areas being inoculated at different times to provide greater security to the health teams.

The health official also mentioned that the health department, security agencies and representatives from Sindh government, will meet on February 4 to improvise the new schedule for the vaccination and to officially announce the postponement.

According to government data, a total of 34 cases of polio were reported in Pakistan in 2012, four of which occurred in Sindh. Karachi, the most populous city of the country, had no cases of polio in 2012.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2013.