Health Alert: 3 more polio cases in Sindh

A polio drive will begin in Karachi on Sept 19, a week later in rest of Sindh.

KARACHI:

Three more children have been reported in Sindh with polio, bringing the total number in the province to 17.

The three new cases in Sindh are one each from Hyderabad, Umerkot and Thatta.

Of the 17 cases reported in Sindh, there are one each Hyderabad, Umerkot, Tando Allahyar and Jamshoro, two each from Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan and Sanghar, three from Thatta and four from Karachi. Countrywide, the number of cases has increased to 87 with 35 from Balochistan, one each from Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab, 26 from Fata and seven from Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The polio drive will begin in Karachi on September 19 and a week later on September 26 in rest of the province due to inaccessibility of certain areas as a result of the floods. The government has dispatched teams. Pakistan is one of the handful of countries where polio persists. Niger is another.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2011.