Chairing the Polio Steering Committee meeting in Islamabad, the prime minister committed to vaccinate all children of Pakistan and deliver once for all a polio-free country in six months time.
The premier declared polio eradication a national cause and said he will supervise the campaign himself.
"Polio epidemic will not be tolerated in the country," he said, adding that any inaction in this regard will be a crime against future generations. "I refuse to put the generations of Pakistan at stake," he said.
The premier urged all the chief ministers to take urgent steps to tackle the disease in their respective provinces. He added that the government, armed forces and other institutions will stand united to fight the crippling disease.
Sharing the concerns of the international community, Nawaz said the government is ensuring polio vaccination of international travellers in compliance with international health regulations.
The meeting was attended by chief ministers of all provinces, chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, prime minister Azad and Jammu Kashmir, governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and federal ministers for information, defence, and interior.
WHO, WHF, Unicef and World Bank have also decided to contribute funds to the cause, while the Bill Gates Foundation has announced to donating 37 billion for the cause.
Around 231 polio cases were reported this year, the most in a decade, with 150 in Fata, 48 in K-P, 23 in Sindh, seven in Balochistan and three in Punjab.
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Why is the PM / Foreign Minister taking on the additional role of “Polio Manager”? Well the report by TE answers my question as under : “WHO, WHF, Unicef and World Bank have also decided to contribute funds to the cause, while the Bill Gates Foundation has announced to donating 37 billion for the cause.”
@H Chaudhry: LISTEN more to S.R.H. Hashmi as he has bisected and dissected the article to his concern for Pakistan in the most excellent manner.
However your optimism is well appreciated and to be encouraged to eradicate one of the Nation's Nemesis.
@Humza: As a nation do not deny one, the unalienable right to criticize our great benefactor who does not declare the source of his and relation's assets for they do also hold position of responsibility
@S.R.H. Hashmi: @S.R.H. Hashmi: Well he does have a solemn face,I am sure he is also a very nice fellow, but is HE the right man for the job
@Humza: @H Chaudhry:
Sharif Brothers are not first timers and have held between them the positions of Prime Minister and / or Chief Minister of Punjab, which has more people than all other provinces combined. During Nawaz Sharif's last term as prime minister which ended prematurely, country's foreign exchange reserves were nearly wiped out and the government resorted to confiscating foreign exchange held by Pakistanis legally in their foreign currency accounts, paying out rupee equivalent later. And the government then opened accounts at banks, locally and abroad, begging Pakistanis to deposit their donations in there. Surely, trying to run the government through charitable public donations did not exactly establish his credentials as a capable manager and administrator.
And accountability is an ongoing process, not a once-in-five-years exercise. And during the last term, Punjab Assembly passed resolutions to create South Punjab province and to reinstate Bahawalpure but these are all forgotten now and the government, like in other provinces except Balochistan, has failed even to hold local government elections, which demonstrates its greed to keep all powers, and the related budgets in its own hands, to use or misuse the way it liked. And many prominent institutions, are working without capable heads or else favourites are placed there. And it has been stated many times that the present installed capacity is far in excess of demand for electricity yet instead of attending to real issues and taking short-term measures, Nawaz Sharif is concentrating wholly on increasing generation capacity, even establishing some imported-coal-based power plants in places other than port towns, increasing costs as well as creating difficulty of getting all supplies to sites through faltering railways. And while Gullu Butt has been sent to jail for over a decade and fined a hefty sum for damaging cars, no one has been brought to justice for killing over a dozen and wounding eighty people.
As for H. Chaudhry, he has merely expressed his considered opinion, and there is not much really to answer. All that can be said perhaps is that in the present day Pakistan, government performance and trends do not give much to be optimistic about, forcing people to be realistic and that, in the present situation, inevitably leads to pessimism. Of course things could improve with drastic change and improvement of systems, which necessitate a change of leadership.
Karachi
@Hassan What 5 tenures ? Are you serios. Polio is no existent in Punjab where PMLN had 5 year rule. This is not because of PMLN but last govt and the military govt before that. Its shameful for people like you to just whine and cry. Stop with it! @S.R.H Hashmi Your whinning is even worse. Really feel sorry for this much negativity and frustrations. I hope you can be a more positive person. @Others being negative For once stop being so judgemental and put your effort in to something positive and constructive instead of trying to point fingers on every thing and any thing. Nawaz is NOT GOING any where till 2018.
@S.R.H. Hashmi: Well he does have a solemn face,I am sure he is also a very nice fellow, but is the right man for the job
If he can end polio in 6 months why haven't he has done it in his last 5 tenures? this is criminal negligence
@S.R.H. Hashmi: What is criminal is not supporting the elected government as it tackles problems affecting the nation. Nawaz Sharif's government is committed to defeating polio, improve the electricity shortage, improve infrastructure and get the economy going. It's trying but no one believes that these problems all started in the year they came to power. It's easy to complain but have the decency to let the elected government do its job. If they are found lacking at the end of their term, vote them out but for the moment, work together.
We had a solemn declaration from Shahbaz Sharif, giving the people an option to change his name if he failed to end load-shedding in six months and now we have Nawaz Sharif making a similar promise about Polio.
And showing a bit of seriousness, he asked Federal land provincial governments to take immediate steps to save future generations from the crippling disease. And Chairing the Polio Steering Committee meeting in Islamabad, the Prime Minister committed to vaccinate all children of Pakistan and deliver once for all a polio-free country is six months time, declaring further that "Polio epidemic will not be tolerated in the country." This is the usual stuff which we hear at the start of any campaign. I am sure we will soon see some fancy television advertisements promoting anti-Polio campaign and perhaps a poet or two will be commissioned to invent slogans and even compose poems on the subject, which is one thing we are very good at.
Also, Nawaz Sharif declared that he will personally supervise the campaign, and I do not know what good would that do. Unfortunately, both brothers don't seem to believe in delegation, and take personal charge of most things, messing them up in the process, instead of appointing capable, experienced persons in important positions, providing them adequate resources and a free hand subject to procedural constraints, and demand results. Having held senior positions for long, the Sharif Brothers should have shed, long time back, the small shopkeeper mentality of keeping an eye on every thing, and supervising matters personally since such an approach stops development of the capacity of their team members who, lacking authority, look up to them even for minor decisions and gradually turn into a bunch of non-functioning YES MEN.
It is criminal, not only to put own people at risk but to endanger the whole world, more so in the circumstances where the international agencies and humanitarian organizations finance the anti-polio campaign. Noting the enormity of the problem in Pakistan, WHO, WHF, UNICEF, World Bank and Bill Gates Foundation have promised to provide funds. I only hope favourites are not placed in important positions in the anti-Polio team whose first move could be to proceed on long tours to developed countries in order to study as to how they have managed to eliminate the disease there, as well as devising other means to pocket greater part of the funds.
Karachi
Good initiative. At-least he is concern for the future generations. Keep up the good work.
@Parvez: Very well said.
The news is ominous.
Considering the huge amount of funds and the involvement of the PM, Pakistanis should now brace themselves for the influx of thousands of Raymond Davis in to the country in the guise of polio programme. We all have experience of dodgy and subversive activities from the recent past.
Yeah like they ended load shedding in six months
@Shehri: Because Pakistan has already been warned for travel restrictions. Also a gossip story may be but on social media I read PM was greeted with Polio vacine at New York Airport in his last visit to US.
Just the way he made Pakistan 'Load-shedding Free in 6 months'!
Seems like another of those grandiose schemes to make money by allocating huge funds in the name of a scheme
The analysis here suggests that there is no medical structured health facilities in Pakistan or medical record keeping in alignment with child birth certification, so as a new citizen come into being, their medical and educational well being is taken into account.
This could present a problem where non registered refugees have free access to parts of the country or they have no choice but to flee a war against terror zone.
Seeing is believing
Now PM will visit door to door to vaccinate kids. What drama is this. He could make country Terrorist Free, and he talks about Polio free.
Go Nawaz Go.
God bless you Mian sahab! Keep up the good work.
When a man loses all credibility.....even his good intentions are mocked.
Why is the PM / Foreign Minister taking on the additional role of "Polio Manager"?
Well the report by TE answers my question as under :
"WHO, WHF, Unicef and World Bank have also decided to contribute funds to the cause, while the Bill Gates Foundation has announced to donating 37 billion for the cause."
I don't think so KPK govt will host him like Sindh govt hosted him in Thar. But I am sure the result of his claim will be same as the result is in Thar (Just a drama visit and nothing afterwards). KPK govt can work to make Polio Free KPK in 6 months but federal govt is incompetent, incapable and visionless.
Judging by the IQ of Nawaz Sharif, now the campaign is doomed to fall apart completely. First, defense, then foreign ministry, and now this.
This must be a joke. Why Prime Minister is going to supervise the polio campaign? Because his ministers are incompetent? If they are incompetent, why not to get rid of them? If they are incompetent, why they are still in charge of the affairs?