If parents notice even the slightest difference in their child’s limbs, they should go and inform their town or taluka health authorities immediately, said medical experts at a workshop.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Surveillance Officer Dr Tufail Ahmed Shaikh said polio was about to be eradicated from the country in 1994 and 1995 but because of bad coordination between the three major stakeholders it did not work out.
While talking at the Baqai Institute of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitative Medicine on Friday, he said that this year 113 polio cases were registered and no measures were being taken to protect children. The WHO official said that parents in particular must be educated about why and how their child could get polio. “Pakistan has been able to eliminate strain two (type two) of the virus, while strain one and strain three continue to persist,” he said. “Oral polio vaccines provide 99 per cent immunity against the virus and it is equally for doctors and the administration to take precaution and ensure that everything is hygienic and clean. Gadap Town Surveillance Officer Dr Furqan Nabil said that the vaccine was administered to children up to the age of 5 because they are supposed to have the weak immunity system.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.
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