Three new cases take country tally to six
Centre wrests control of polio information dissemination from provinces
Centre wrests control of polio information dissemination from provinces. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR/KARACHI:
Three more cases of polio were confirmed in the country on Friday, taking 2015’s count to six. The infected children belong to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Sindh.
According to the K-P health department, 29-month-old Munazza from Khweshgi village of Nowshera district tested positive for the poliovirus. Her sample was collected on January 5.
The second polio-infected child belongs to Birmal tehsil in South Waziristan Agency; nine-month-old Ataullah’s sample was collected on January 7.
The third case of the day hails from Qambar district in Sindh and the child’s sample was collected on January 4. Further details for this case have not been released yet.
Overriding provinces
In what seems to be a contravention of the 18th Amendment, the Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination approved a standard operating procedure late last year, which routes all confirmed cases of polio through the Centre.
The chain of communication on polio cases begins with the regional reference laboratory – the National Institute of Health (NIH) – at the Centre.
Each confirmed case will be emailed to the national Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) by the head of the NIH. Only the EOC coordinator will then send the information to the NHSRC, PM’s focal person on polio, DG health, the WHO, Unicef and the relevant province’s health secretary, chief secretary and health DGs.
The SOPs were meant to be “implemented in letter and spirit with effect from December 15, 2014. However, none of the mentioned websites display polio cases or give any information.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2015.
Three more cases of polio were confirmed in the country on Friday, taking 2015’s count to six. The infected children belong to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Sindh.
According to the K-P health department, 29-month-old Munazza from Khweshgi village of Nowshera district tested positive for the poliovirus. Her sample was collected on January 5.
The second polio-infected child belongs to Birmal tehsil in South Waziristan Agency; nine-month-old Ataullah’s sample was collected on January 7.
The third case of the day hails from Qambar district in Sindh and the child’s sample was collected on January 4. Further details for this case have not been released yet.
Overriding provinces
In what seems to be a contravention of the 18th Amendment, the Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination approved a standard operating procedure late last year, which routes all confirmed cases of polio through the Centre.
The chain of communication on polio cases begins with the regional reference laboratory – the National Institute of Health (NIH) – at the Centre.
Each confirmed case will be emailed to the national Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) by the head of the NIH. Only the EOC coordinator will then send the information to the NHSRC, PM’s focal person on polio, DG health, the WHO, Unicef and the relevant province’s health secretary, chief secretary and health DGs.
The SOPs were meant to be “implemented in letter and spirit with effect from December 15, 2014. However, none of the mentioned websites display polio cases or give any information.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2015.