Immunisation campaign: K-P to probe recent polio cases from the province

Health workers will vaccinate children in Suleman Khel following security clearance.


Asad Zia March 23, 2014
A child in Bannu is being vaccinated for polio. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, one of the high-risk areas for the disease is Swat. PHOTO:INP

PESHAWAR:


Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Saturday said an enquiry would be initiated to probe into the reasons for the new polio cases reported from the province recently.


Talking to journalists at Peshawar Press Club at the inauguration of the 8th round of Sehat ka Insaf, Yousafzai said they will try to find out if these children were not vaccinated or if their parents refused to get them vaccinated.

He added in the next couple of weeks, the programme will be launched in three other districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – Charsadda, Swabi and Mardan.

The health minister maintained they intend to vaccinate 1.6 million children against nine diseases in one day which would set a “world record of sorts”.

Elaborating on the campaign, he said they had decided to distribute water purification tablets among the 30,000 houses in 96 union councils (UC). He added that two union councils, Suleman Khel and Sheikhan, were excluded during the earlier seven rounds due to security threats, however, this time Suleman Khel will be included as it has received security clearance.

According to the minister, awareness pamphlets regarding dengue and protecting children from other diseases would also be distributed in the UCs. He said that the salaries of lady health workers which had been held previously would be distributed coming Thursday.

Among other plans, the minister said to prevent dengue, an awareness campaign will be launched in Buner, Shangla and Swat.

About the 12 cases of Leishmaniasis which were reported in Nowshera district, the minister said they will take preventive measures soon. Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoan parasites and spreads through the bite of sandflies. The disease can present itself in three ways – skin ulcers, or ulcers in the mouth or on the nose and then as skin ulcers with fever, low red blood cells and inflammation of the spleen and liver.



K-P’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation Deputy Director Janbaz Afridi said so far 33 polio cases were reported in Pakistan out of which 29 were from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

He added in the last four and a half years no immunisation campaign had been launched in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, North Waziristan and some parts of South Waziristan and Frontier Region Bannu.

According to Afridi, it is important to eradicate the virus from Fata as it can spread to other areas of the country.

While talking to The Express Tribune, District Polio Control Room Focal Person Dr Ikram Khan said all sensitive union councils of the city are included in the eighth round of the campaign. He added that 12,000 health workers would immunise 0.7 million children in Peshawar.

In the seventh phase of the Sehat ka Insaf campaign around 0.64 million children were inoculated in more than 0.3 million households of 95 union councils of Peshawar.

Talking about peace

Talking about the negotiations with the Taliban, the minister said if the talks between the government and Taliban broke down, it could lead to a civil war in the country. He added that the provincial government was prepared to support the federal government in whatever they needed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.

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