QUETTA:
Recent reports reveal that Pakistan remains at the top of a list of countries where the polio virus still thrives.
According to reports, polio cases in Pakistan have surged to 88. Out of these cases, 69 belong to Fata, seven to Sindh and 12 to Khyber-Paktunkhwa. However, the total number of cases in Afghanistan (4) and Nigeria (3) remain comparatively low.
Pakistan has also been slapped with travel sanctions. Immunisation has been made compulsory by the WHO to prevent the virus from being transferred to other countries. Experts believe that 90 per cent polio cases in 2013 originate from areas where there are significant barriers to vaccination.
Interestingly, no case has been reported from Balochistan since October 2012. This leads many to assert that Balochistan is a polio-free province. However, the risk of polio has increased, following the influx of the IDPs into Balochistan from North Waziristan. The provincial Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch discredits Balochistan’s polio-free status.
“Although no cases have been detected since 2012, environmental samples results remain positive,” the minister said.
He added that Lady Health Workers (LHWs), who are normally paid by the Unicef and WHO, are now being paid by the provincial authorities to grapple with the alarming increase in the polio virus.
The provincial health minister said that the deputy commissioners, district health officers and secretaries have been engaged to supervise the polio vaccination programmes in high-risk areas.
He said the Balochistan government would take precautions to ensure that IDPs from North Waziristan, who are possible carriers of polio virus, would be immunised.
An official at the Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, Dr Abid Saeed, believes that either surveillance is weak or repeated rounds of immunisation have eliminated polio from Balochistan.
Dr Abid Saeed said that environmental samples are only conducted in Quetta and results are inferred on its basis. As a result, polio cases in high-risk areas such as Killa Abdullah and Chaman are largely unnoticed.
”WHO is also facing Human Resource shortage in security-sensitive areas such as Kalat, Awaran and Makran,” he said.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Provincial Surveillance Officer World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Waheed Kakar said that in the face of opposition in the province, it cannot be said that Balochistan is polio-free.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2014.
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