Health: Fourth polio case surfaces in the city
Two other confirmed cases of polio reported from Saddar and Gadap towns.
KARACHI:
Six-month-old Ahsan emerges as the fourth victim of the polio virus in Karachi this year.
Ahsan, son of Obaidullah, moved from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to SITE town and has no history of immunisation, said EPI official, Dr Mazhar Khamisani on Monday.
“This apathy and indifference has left the child with a crippled leg,” he said. Sindh Minister for Health Dr Sagheer Ahmed regretted the incident which was the second in SITE Town, the twelfth in the province and 43rd in the country.
He said refusing vaccinations continue to be a major challenge and are generally registered among people with strong tribal tendencies.
“We have to address the misgivings of every parent at every level,” he said, mentioning that the provincial health department was doing its level best to keep a track of children under five years of age who were coming from other parts of the country.
“We are trying to coordinate with other provincial and health departments, and the communities,” he said in reply to a question.
Dr Ahmed said that two other confirmed cases of polio were reported from Saddar and Gadap towns and another from SITE Town also comprised children who had recently migrated. “We are involving people of the same communities, particularly girls and women, to become vaccinators so that there is easy access,” he said in reply to a question.
The health minister said there is improved acceptability for vaccinators from the same community. He agreed that parents and the medical community also needed to pay equal attention towards routine immunisation and special vaccination campaigns. “Routine immunisation over the years has been ignored and consequently its coverage rate has been no more than 69 per cent,” acknowledged the minister. “We have revised our strategy to strengthen our routine immunisation that includes the protection against almost all vaccine preventable ailments,” he stated.
In reply to a question about reported administrative flaws, he said that the health department was taking action against officials failing to pre-empt instances of polio or unable to ensure a minimum 95 per cent coverage rate.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2011.
Six-month-old Ahsan emerges as the fourth victim of the polio virus in Karachi this year.
Ahsan, son of Obaidullah, moved from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to SITE town and has no history of immunisation, said EPI official, Dr Mazhar Khamisani on Monday.
“This apathy and indifference has left the child with a crippled leg,” he said. Sindh Minister for Health Dr Sagheer Ahmed regretted the incident which was the second in SITE Town, the twelfth in the province and 43rd in the country.
He said refusing vaccinations continue to be a major challenge and are generally registered among people with strong tribal tendencies.
“We have to address the misgivings of every parent at every level,” he said, mentioning that the provincial health department was doing its level best to keep a track of children under five years of age who were coming from other parts of the country.
“We are trying to coordinate with other provincial and health departments, and the communities,” he said in reply to a question.
Dr Ahmed said that two other confirmed cases of polio were reported from Saddar and Gadap towns and another from SITE Town also comprised children who had recently migrated. “We are involving people of the same communities, particularly girls and women, to become vaccinators so that there is easy access,” he said in reply to a question.
The health minister said there is improved acceptability for vaccinators from the same community. He agreed that parents and the medical community also needed to pay equal attention towards routine immunisation and special vaccination campaigns. “Routine immunisation over the years has been ignored and consequently its coverage rate has been no more than 69 per cent,” acknowledged the minister. “We have revised our strategy to strengthen our routine immunisation that includes the protection against almost all vaccine preventable ailments,” he stated.
In reply to a question about reported administrative flaws, he said that the health department was taking action against officials failing to pre-empt instances of polio or unable to ensure a minimum 95 per cent coverage rate.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2011.