ISLAMABAD: Government on Wednesday proved Pakistan’s ninth case of poliovirus during the year so far. Based on an authorized at the National Institute of Health, a 10-year-old male child from Lahore have been affected by the virus.
“Samples were gathered on April 2 and transported to Islamabad for verification. The virus belongs to an Outfall Pumping Department in Lahore,” declared an authorized deputed in the polio laboratory of the National Institute of Health. The Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication, Babar bin Atta, verified the news flash when Dawn spoke to him.
“It is worrying that for the 2nd time this year a 10-year-old male child has been affected with the poliovirus,” declared the lab official. The new polio case indicates the suggestions of polio experts who emphasize that the vaccination campaign must be run in core reservoirs such as infants of up to 10 years of age, he said.
“This is why it was decided that polio vaccine would be administered to infants of up to the age of 10 years in core reservoirs such as Rawalpindi and also Peshawar. However, due to refusals in Peshawar we were unable to do so,” he declared, referring to the current vaccination campaign problems in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Discussing the poliovirus detected in Lahore, Focal Person on Polio Mr. Atta declared, “It is unlucky that for 4 years, the earlier Punjab govt remained in a state of denial regarding the presence of poliovirus. There was no one to take ownership of the polio eradication method. Though the polio virus was being recorded from Lahore the Punjab govt would say that the virus belonged to Peshawar. But we could also have turned back and declared that the virus in Peshawar originates in Afghanistan and not take ownership of the problem. We have to take steps to eradicate it malware.”
Replying to an issue relating to the improvement in refusal charges, he declared, “It is evident that the conversation technique for the polio vaccination method has unsuccessful. We must remove the concerns of parents and need to come up with a much better conversation technique .”
The breakdown of the 9 polio cases that have been recorded so far are as follows: 2 each from Lahore and Bannu, 1 each from Hangu, Waziristan, Bajaur, Khyber Tribal district and Karachi. Along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is one of the only 3 nations where finalized polio eradication has not yet been achieved.