DAVOS, SWITZERLAND: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday said Pakistan was committed to eradicate polio by the end of 2012 and would use all available resources to rid the country of the crippling disease.
He was talking to the Chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Gates, who contributes about US $1 billion annually to the eradication of polio globally, stressed the need to expand the reach of the Polio Eradication Programme in Pakistan.
Gates has made polio eradication a top priority of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They have spent more than US $85 million for the PEP in Pakistan, was keen to hear the views of Gilani and the ways the Pakistan government was surmounting the difficulties in its efforts to reach out to the remote areas of the country.
Gilani said he was personally supervising the polio eradication efforts and had also asked the provinces to double their efforts towards making Pakistan a Polio-free country.
The Prime Minister said he had spelt it out that all measures be taken to eradicate the crippling disease from the country by end of 2012, under the National Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication.
He said surveillance officers have been appointed in high-risk areas to strengthen the implementation process, and a Polio Monitoring Cell has also been set up in his Secretariat which was providing regular updates to him.
Pakistan is among the four countries where Polio is still a deadly disease. The other countries include: India, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Gilani also appreciated Bill Gates for his efforts to provide medical treatment to Arfa Karim Randhawa, the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world.
He said Pakistan has named IT educational institutions after her and invited Bill Gates to visit Pakistan and help set up quality education houses for the youth.
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another method to milk money from west and either stash outside or buy tanks... our mindset is infected with polio and as india shines after eradicating polio by spending $ 3 billion over last 5 years, our polio rates have actually gone up since.. what a shame
polio is gone from india, only 3 countries left.
Mr. Gillani please try to eradicate corruption and uproot corruption from Pakistan from grass-root levels and from every department as you are trying to eradicate polio from Pakistan.
Pakistan is among the four countries where Polio is still a deadly disease. The other countries include: India, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
You must update yourself on India it is a year since polio case was reported from India
Tall promises ! Don't worry, Bill knows better. You already eradicated enough in this Nation on your watch, need you do anymore as this Country is already on iys last legs.