The crippling disease: Who will vaccinate the children in jail, SC wants to know

Reports sought from provincial govts on measures taken to give vaccines to inmates' children

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has sought reports from all provincial governments about measures taken to administer polio drops to minor children living in the country's jails.

The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, took serious notice of an incident wherein the children of prisoners languishing in Central Prison, Karachi, were not given the polio vaccines.



In 2009, Nasiban Bibi, who was an accused in a murder case, sent a mercy petition to the Chief Justice of Pakistan from the prison. She complained that no polio drops were given to the children of the inmates. She said that her baby daughter was born in the jail, adding that since the prison administration did not vaccinate the children against polio, her daughter Sawera became physically impaired.

The bench asked why these children were not given polio drops and who was responsible for Sawera's disability. It further wanted to know what action was taken against those responsible for the negligence and directed the Sindh chief secretary to submit a report in this regard on the next date of hearing.

The court also ordered the chief secretaries of the other provinces to submit reports on medical facilities available to children living in prisons, before adjourning the hearing for a month.

Around 255 polio cases have been reported this year in Pakistan, which is one of three countries in the world where the crippling disease remains endemic.

Case pending

Additional Advocate General Mir Qasim Jutt said that this matter had been pending in the apex court since 2009. He said that they received a report from the relevant quarters that the accused, along with three other women, had been detained in Karachi Central Jail because of their alleged involvement in a murder case, but the women were acquitted in June 2011. He added that the mercy plea seeking their bail had only been fixed now, more than three years after their acquittal.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.