“We aren’t sure if Hifsa was ever administered polio drops,” an official told. PHOTO: PPI
PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:
Pakistan’s reported polio cases for the year climbed to 61 on Monday, as two fresh samples collected from children in Karachi and North Waziristan Agency were confirmed as poliovirus type 1.
The National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, identified the latest patients as 18-month-old Hifsa of Karachi’s Gadap Town and 14-month-old Shakila Naz of Miramshah, who received no vaccination against the crippling virus.
“We aren’t sure if Hifsa was ever administered polio drops,” an official of the Extended Programme on Immunisation (EPI) told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity.
He said that while they had received reports that the toddler has been immunised, EPI was unable to confirm this. “The parents are not sharing the data of polio vaccination. We have to collect more information to verify these reports,” the official said.
The new reports put 2014’s total polio cases from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) at 47, with the total from Karachi to five.
Impenetrable Gadap
The surfacing of new polio cases in Karachi and Miramshah indicate the failure of vaccination teams to conduct successful campaigns in both areas. But while the military is turning the wheels of an awareness drive in the restive tribal areas of the country, certain areas of Gadap are becoming increasingly inaccessible for vaccinators.
Out of the five cases reported in Sindh this year, three have emerged from a part of Gadap Town which fearful polio workers describe as a ‘tribal village’; there are fewer women on the narrow streets, but sufficient mosques for the small population of Pakhtun settlers that dominate the locality, as well as frequenters from two Afghan settlements nearby.
A top official of EPI revealed that the Sindh government is unable to initiate a polio awareness campaign in volatile pockets of Karachi, and that Gadap especially is considered inaccessible.
“Gadap is Sindh’s Waziristan,” the official admitted, requesting anonymity. “It is very difficult to launch polio campaigns there in full swing or start a polio awareness drive there,” he added.
He blamed the ‘religious mindset’ of workers as well as the presence of members of banned outfits for the failure to conduct successful campaigns. “We launch a weekly drive with utmost care. It is very risky.”
Another official disclosed that seven to eight cases were expected this year. “We don’t expect more cases after June,” the official said, adding that the cases surface from localities where parents refuse polio drops for minors.
A senior official linked to the Prime Minister’s Polio Cell in Islamabad said that besides Fata, the five other areas that have become ‘problematic for Pakistan’ include Gadap, Baldia Town and Orangi in Karachi and Banu and Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
While the high refusal rate is a major stumbling black for a polio-free Gadap, the law and order situation and presence of criminals is another hindrance which deters workers from visiting each house in the area.
“The polio teams miss some streets. We can’t force them to visit every house. It is their responsibility not ours,” a police official from Karachi told The Express Tribune during a vaccination drive that took place on May 4.
“They can’t do it just for the measly Rs250 a day,” a doctor said. “The drive needs mature, competent and committed volunteers.”
The doctor highlighted that yet another challenge for workers crisscrossing through these sensitive areas is their lack of knowledge of the vicinity. “[For this reason], they don’t complete their tasks. We receive a report that they completed their work within two to four hours – residents are being cheated by polio workers,” he added.
It is also learnt that 80 per cent of the polio workers in the city are operating without security, despite fatal attacks on vaccination teams. One polio worker said that when families refuse vaccination, the vaccinators are afraid to insist for fear of a backlash.
“Even the children who are given polio drops in Gadap are at risk as they are living side by side with families who refuse vaccination,” a senior polio worker said. “Migration and population movement is a major reason [behind the spread] but we lack a concrete policy. We also lack a policy of punishment for parents who refuse vaccination,” the worker added.
A high-level meeting of the city’s health officials with top officials of the polio programme and the Sindh health minister is expected to discuss the alarming incidence of cases within 48 hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2014.
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Finally the future of Pakistan has engulfed Karachi as well. Thanks to the TTP and their fanatic supporters and allies who have made Karachi as their base now.