Polio drive: Focus shifts to Murree due to recent positive case

Earlier, some officials stated it was due to political situation in twin cities.

RAWALPINDI: It seems the Rawalpindi health department will be fully-focused on eradicating polio in the Murree hill station, where a case was recently reported, while ignoring ground-level parts of the district.

An anti-polio campaign has been suspended in the garrison city, with health officials issuing contradictory remarks regarding the suspension of the campaign.

On Monday, the district health department had postponed a planned district-wide anti polio drive in the whole district except Murree.

Health officials were claiming that the decision was taken due to the uncertain political situation, with Health EDO Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal among those making the claim.

But the district health officer is claiming that the decision was taken due to the detection of a fresh polio case in Murree, as the administration wants to ensure that the case remains an isolated incident.

Later, sources in the department told The Express Tribune an entirely different story. They said the administration is focused only on Muree due to a shortage of polio vaccinators brought on by the failure to convince teachers to do the job.

When contacted, DHO Dr Khalid Randhawa told The Express Tribune that a polio case was identified in Muree some days back. He said the victim was a child from K-P who was visiting Murree.

He added that a nationwide anti-polio drive is scheduled for next month and focus will return to the rest of the division at that time, but due to the new case, Murree needs attention first.

He said this was the only reason behind the postponement of the district-wide drive.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2014.