Fighting the virus: ‘Polio flame’ reaches Pindi, next stop Peshawar

Rotary District Pakistan will move forward the torch to Peshawar today to create awareness about the disease

RAWALPINDI: Polio and Olympics have one thing common to share now – torch. In Olympics, the flame emphasizes the connection between the ancient games and the modern ones and in the battle against the crippling disease – polio – the flames are used to make people more aware and vigilant.

The “polio flame” reached the garrison city on Tuesday night to join hands with the government to eliminate polio once and for all from Pakistan. The Rotary Club Rawalpindi on Wednesday organised an event to honour the flame. The Rotary District Pakistan will move forward the flame to Peshawar on Thursday (today) to create awareness about the crippling disease.

The flame set out from Chennai India and will go around the world that would finally reach Brazil in June this year.

“The flame aimed at to tell the people how fatal the disease is which has been destroying lives of our children,” said Rotary Club Rawalpindi President Abdul Mannan Khan.

He said that though Pakistan started its war against polio in 1985 it has failed to control the virus which has become more endemic.

“It’s astonishing that an atomic power could not even compete with Nigeria where not a single polio case surfaced in the last six months,” he said.

While paying tribute to the sacrifices and courage of vaccinators and policemen, some of them lost their lives in the line of duty, he said that they were putting their lives at stake to save the children from catching the crippling disease.

“So far we have lost dozens of brave sisters and brothers while vaccinating our children. We respect you and your sacrifices are priceless and will be acknowledged in the history as well,” he said.

Rawalpindi Health Department District Superintendent Vaccination Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain informed the participants that not a single case was reported in Rawalpindi since 2010.

He also dispelled the misconception about the vaccines that it leads to impotency or any other side affect calling it nothing but propaganda.

“If the vaccination had the ability to do the same, then we would have an entire generation of impotents as it has been used since 1985,” he said.

Hussain said that polio could only be prevented through drops, urging the people to vaccinate their children. He said in Rawalpindi around 3,700 teams are engaged in vaccinating around 0.8 million children.

He also revealed that there were 800 refusal cases mostly in families belonging to Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Murree which have been brought down to 200.

Member of the club Nosherwan Khan Khalil said that the polio virus has almost been eradicated in Afghanistan but it still existed in some parts of Pakistan.

“The flame also meant to express solidarity with the fallen health workers and security officials and with their families,” he said. Khalil also called for concerted efforts to fight the polio virus.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2015.