.Seven cases reported from Punjab, nine from Sindh, 10 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 65 from Fata.
On a single day, five new polio cases were confirmed in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata), increasing the total number of cases in the country to 91 in 2013.
According to the laboratory report, these cases were reported in the third week of December last year, but the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, confirmed the cases on Saturday. Four of the cases were reported from North Waziristan Agency while one case was detected in Khyber Agency.
The volatile tribal areas have been the highest contributor to the total number of cases, with 65 children affected by the crippling virus in the Fata.
According the NIH, the infected children – like all other cases – had not received any dose of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).
One of the five cases confirmed included that of 15-month-old Adil, from tehsil Razmak, North Waziristan agency. Others from North Waziristan include: Zakimullah, the 18-month-old son of Sharoof, from Miran Shah; another 18-month-old Amina, daughter of Hayatullah, also from Miramshah; and two-year-old Muntazir, son of Molvi Ataullah, from Miramshah.
Meanwhile, the fifth child infected with the poliovirus is 15-month-old Shamsullal from Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency.
Out of a total number of 91 polio cases across the country, seven are from Punjab, nine from Sindh, 10 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and 65 from Fata.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2014.
COMMENTS (4)
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You may have nukes but apparently lack common sense - if you won't take the necessary steps to protect yourselves then the World may have to take necessary steps to protect itself from you. Polio is a terrible but preventable disease - the cure was invented by an American Jew but that doesn't make it evil.
Report: "India will officially be declared polio-free on Monday,13th January 2014. Hope this spurs Pakistan into action..how can they lag behind the "enemy":)
With reports of Polio cases coming thick and fast from all around Pakistan it is clear that Polio is set to stay in Pakistan for some time. The current proposed measure by India of insisting that all those who have been in Pakistan must have certificates of inoculation certifying that they have been vaccinated is not tamper proof. So in order to prevent the polio virus joining the list of other unwelcome exports from Pakistan into India; namely terrorists, heroin and counterfeit Indian currency notes, it would be prudent for India to stop providing visa’s to Pakistanis to visit India and simultaneously prohibit Indian’s from visiting Pakistan.
As pointed out previously by another poster here on ET, India should not be swayed by sympathy inducing arguments about the need for maintaining people to people contact, helping divided families and using visit visa’s as confidence building measure to foster peace. India must instead enjoy the fruits of eschewing the temptation of acquiring lots of nuclear “bums” and weapon systems in order to make resources available for polio eradication unlike Pakistan.
News items like these make my blood boil. It is absolutely shocking to me that in this day and age, Pakistan is still one of the only 3 other countries in the world where this deadly and debilitating disease is prevalent. How many more years are we to wait before this virus can be rightfully wiped out from the face of the earth ? In spite of billions of dollars of aid and a host of agencies getting help from outside agencies why is it that we still cannot get our act together ?