Renewed threat: 2015’s first polio case confirmed from Tank

Vaccination drive to cover 0.75 million children

PESHAWAR: Officials confirmed on Saturday this year’s first polio virus case in the southern district of Tank in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

In 2014, six cases of polio were reported from Tank out of a total of 69 cases recorded in the province.

Sources in the federal emergency operation centre said that the first polio virus case of the year 2015 was confirmed in the sample obtained from nine-month-old Rohida, daughter of Mir Abbas Khan from Shahi Khel village in Tank district’s Amakhel union council. The type of virus is P1.

With six new polio cases confirmed last week, the total number of polio cases in the country has reached 303, breaking a 16-year old record of 300 cases reported in 1998. Health officials informed that the total number of cases reported from the tribal areas has reached 177, adding that the number of cases from K-P was 69. Total cases confirmed in Punjab were four, whereas the number of cases in Balochistan was 23 and that of Sindh reached 30.

In a bid to bolster efforts to root out the polio virus from the country, both the federal and provincial health ministries have been carrying out immunisation campaigns.

The January 3  campaign had to be called off in the wake of security concerns following the Dec 16 attack on the Army Public School (APS). Subsequently, the health department has decided to hold a one-day polio immunisation campaign in Peshawar district’s 97 union councils on January 18.

According to officials, the previous campaign scheduled to be held earlier this month could not be conducted since the department was not prepared. They added that a readiness report has been submitted to the concerned authorities, and the department is all set to hold its one-day drive.

Health officials claimed that a vaccination drive was carried out in several union councils of the district on Saturday. They said that since the union councils covered were highly sensitive, the campaign was not publicised.

“There are a few union councils adjacent to the provincial capital where polio workers came under attack in the past and that could be the reason why the campaign was not publicised,” a health official said, requesting anonymity. He added that the one-day campaign in the district will be followed by another campaign across K-P on January 21.

The official also said that a total of 0.75 million children will be administered polio drops, adding that 7,000 police personnel will be deputed to provide security to the polio workers. He added that a total of 4,260 teams will be administering polio drops to children across the district.

On January 3, following directions issued by the federal government to suspend polio immunisation campaigns due to security concerns, the K-P government delayed the polio vaccination drive.

“Before going for the immunisation campaign, we file a readiness report where we suggest whether the health department is ready to hold the campaign or not.

The report could not be submitted on time following the attack on the APS,” a health official had said on January 3, adding that the readiness report includes the security situation as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2015.