'UN, WHO can ban Pakistanis from travelling abroad if polio not eradicated'

DCO Multan says number of polio cases in Pakistan has crossed the number in Afghanistan.

MULTAN: United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation can ban Pakistanis from travelling outside Pakistan if polio is not completely eradicated from the country, said district coordination officer (DCO) Multan.

While chairing the meeting organised for monitoring polio campaign in the city, DCO Multan Mudassir Riaz Malik said restrictions against Pakistan can get severe if the country fails to end polio, adding that the number of polio cases in Pakistan has crossed the number in Afghanistan.

Explaining the traces of polio found in recent solid waste samples, Malik said that all stakeholders need to work together for the eradication campaign.

“If we will not do anything for the eradication, Pakistan will remain the only country to have polio patients in the entire world,” he said.

Speaking about the negative propaganda against the quality of polio vaccine, Malik said that the same vaccine was used in India and Afghanistan and had managed to eradicate the disease.

Stressing on the need of coordinated effort against the disease, Malik said that Pakistan has similar infrastructure as the countries which successfully brought polio to an end.

Executive District Officer (EDO) Health Multan Mukhtar Hussain Shah, during the meeting, briefed the attendees about the three-day campaign, saying that 1751 teams will vaccinate around 0.65 million children in the city.