Skip to main content

Five more polio cases reported from KP

ISLAMABAD: Refusals and misconceptions have been hampering the polio eradication drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as five more cases have been reported from various parts of the province.

The cournty-wide tally for the first six months of the year 2019 has reached 32 as compared to 12 cases in 2018 and only eight in year 2017.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone has recorded 26 cases so far, mostly from the highly-infected Bannu division. Bannu has 11 cases and North Waziristan six, followed by Torghar with three and one each from D.I. Khan, Hangu, Lakki Marwat, Shangla, Bajaur and Khyber Agency.

An official of the Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH), requesting anonymity, said that two cases each had been reported from Bannu and Torghar and one from North Waziristan.

“An eight-month-old boy from Takhti Khel Union Council and a 10-month-old boy from Kotka Gul Adat Khan village of Bannu district were diagnosed with the crippling virus,” he said.

“Of the two cases reported from Torghar, the first one is a 48-month-old girl who belongs to Gaeito village and the other is a 24-month-old boy from Harnail Union Council. From North Waziristan’s Zeraki village, an 11-month-old girl has been infected,” he said.

When contacted, retired captain Kamran Ahmad Afridi, KP Emergency Operations Centre coordinator, said: “The propaganda against polio vaccine and increase in number of refusal cases is a major cause behind the spike in cases in the province.”

It was unfortunate that some people were hesitant to vaccinate their children on the basis of wrong notions due to which their children stayed exposed to polio which caused lifelong disabilities, he regretted.

In a video statement released by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Babar Bin Atta has appealed to parents to vaccinate their children and avoid propaganda.

“The Peshawar polio drama created misconception due to which population of far-flung areas of KP are still reluctant to vaccinate their children. Parents should be aware that there is no cure for polio once the damage is done,” Mr Atta said.

“Fortunately, children who are vaccinated against polio multiple times are able to fight the virus back. The more doses of the polio vaccine a child receives, the higher the chances of escaping lifelong paralysis,” said Mr Atta.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan remains to be one of the two last countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio virus continues to circulate. So far in 2019, a total of 32 polio cases have been reported, including 26 from Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa and tribal districts, three from Punjab and three from Sindh.

Nisar Ahmad Khan in Mansehra also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/2X4Gh3P
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more