Official excuse?: Politics of ‘dharnas’ hamper campaign against polio

Health ministry official claims ‘important’ meeting could not be held for a month due to sit-ins.

ISLAMABAD:

The lacklustre attitude of the federal government coupled with the ongoing sit-ins at Constitution Avenue has hindered strengthening of the polio eradication programme in the country.

“Pakistan is facing a major setback in its effort to eradicate the crippling disease from the country as the total number of polio cases this year has reached 146 which is terrible but unfortunately they are not even bothering to take the matter seriously,” said a senior official at the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), who wished not to be named.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the official said at present Pakistan is at a stage where a slight delay in polio eradication activities can wreak havoc for the entire nation but still it is shocking that no one is taking the issue seriously.

Sharing details, the official said for the past couple of months the ministry is planning to establish a National Emergency Operation Centre for strengthening polio monitoring and coordination between the federal government and provinces.

“However, this plan is still pending due to the current political situation and they are unable to materialise the plan,” said the official.

He said it was decided that once the plan for the establishment of the centre was finalised, a summary for its approval would be sent to the prime minster but the meeting scheduled for discussing the much-delayed and awaited PC-1 for the project has not been held due the ongoing political situation. A meeting was scheduled almost a month ago to discuss the matter but officials could not attend due to the protests.

“Currently, the federal government has limited stock of the polio vaccine for countrywide anti-polio activities,” he added.

He further said the country will be unable to procure polio vaccine for vaccination drives to be carried out after September due to shortage of funds due to the delay in the approval of the PC-1.

“Pakistan is supposed to get a loan of $326 million from the Islamic Development Bank and other donors under this PC-1,” the official informed.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), however, approved “Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication” all over the country including FATA, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

On the other hand, Unicef has been asked to make all necessary preparations for procuring polio vaccine so there would be no further delay after approval of the PC-1 by the ECNEC, said the official.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, the national EPI manager, said provincial health departments are worried that the federal government would not be able to deliver the required amount of vaccines due the ongoing sit-ins in the capital. “Therefore, some of the provinces postponed their planned anti-polio drives,” he said.

Around 143 cases of polio have been reported in the country this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2014.