Travel restriction: India makes polio drops binding on Pakistani travellers
Country wants to maintain polio-free status, explains Indian HC.
The High Commission explained that the restriction is applicable to travellers from all countries where polio is endemic or where cases of polio have been reported. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
India requires all Pakistani visitors to have oral polio vaccination (OPV) at least six weeks prior to departure.
In an official notification issued on Wednesday, the Indian High Commission to Pakistan stated, “Travellers from Pakistan to India after January 30, 2014, are required to carry their vaccination record as evidence of polio vaccination” and will only be allowed to enter the country thereafter.
It stated that the record for administering OPV may be obtained from an authorised medical centre in the format laid out in the World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations 2005 International Certificate of Vaccination. Once administered, the OPV remains effective for one year, after which the vaccination should be taken again.
Pakistan has recorded an increase of 30% in the number of polio cases as compared to last year and the count still goes on. However, India has been polio-free since 2009; therefore, in a bid to maintain its status, India issued the new travel restrictions for Pakistani adults and children.
The High Commission explained that the restriction is applicable to travellers from all countries where polio is endemic or where cases of polio have been reported. “It is also applicable to Indian nationals travelling to and from these countries,” it stated.
India Today reported on January 28 that Indian government had written to its transport and railway authorities to allow screening of children coming from Pakistan or going there.
According to officials in UN donor agencies, WHO’s regional board will hold a meeting in the last week of January 2014 that would take up the matter of Pakistan and other countries affected by polio.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar said the Indian government has imposed travel restrictions just to secure their country, which is alright. “But it would have been better if the Indian government had discussed the matter with their Pakistani counterparts before taking this decision.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2013.
India requires all Pakistani visitors to have oral polio vaccination (OPV) at least six weeks prior to departure.
In an official notification issued on Wednesday, the Indian High Commission to Pakistan stated, “Travellers from Pakistan to India after January 30, 2014, are required to carry their vaccination record as evidence of polio vaccination” and will only be allowed to enter the country thereafter.
It stated that the record for administering OPV may be obtained from an authorised medical centre in the format laid out in the World Health Organisation’s International Health Regulations 2005 International Certificate of Vaccination. Once administered, the OPV remains effective for one year, after which the vaccination should be taken again.
Pakistan has recorded an increase of 30% in the number of polio cases as compared to last year and the count still goes on. However, India has been polio-free since 2009; therefore, in a bid to maintain its status, India issued the new travel restrictions for Pakistani adults and children.
The High Commission explained that the restriction is applicable to travellers from all countries where polio is endemic or where cases of polio have been reported. “It is also applicable to Indian nationals travelling to and from these countries,” it stated.
India Today reported on January 28 that Indian government had written to its transport and railway authorities to allow screening of children coming from Pakistan or going there.
According to officials in UN donor agencies, WHO’s regional board will hold a meeting in the last week of January 2014 that would take up the matter of Pakistan and other countries affected by polio.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar said the Indian government has imposed travel restrictions just to secure their country, which is alright. “But it would have been better if the Indian government had discussed the matter with their Pakistani counterparts before taking this decision.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2013.