WHO-Report: WHO rejects NIH report on polio virus in Multan

MULTAN:

A report of World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorically rejected the National Institute of Health report about presence of polio virus in sewage of certain areas of the city, Executive District Officer (Health) Iftikhar Qureshi said on Friday.

He was briefing a meeting headed by District Coordination Officer Zahid Saleem Gondal.

The meeting was held to review arrangements of polio campaign that would commence on November 18.

The NIH had reported the presence of deadly virus in sample of sewage water collected from Ali Town and Kotla Abdul Fatey in September. The EDO said the WHO report received from Geneva had refuted NIH claims.  Quoting from the WHO report, the EDO said the virus present in the sewage was harmless. He said they were waiting for the report of Kotla Abdul Fatey.

He said the report of Suraj Miani disposal had also proved wrong. The EDO told the meeting that the Health Department was sending samples of three disposal stations in these areas for analysis every month. He said after the NIH report, the department had dispatched the samples to Geneva for tests of virus genetics.

Additional District Commissioner Ali Akbar Bhatti, City Assistant Commissioner Sadia Mehr, Operations SSP Naeem Khan Babar and WHO representatives Dr Shahid Bokhari and Dr Abid Hussain were also present.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2013.