Pakistan: No new polio case in 30 months in Sindh termed major success in fight against crippling disease
Over 3,000 security personnel to protect polio workers, health minister says
Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that no new polio case reported from anywhere in the province for the past 30 months is a major success of his government.
The CM met a delegation comprising representatives of the Oversight Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative led by its Chairman Dr Christopher Elias.
Shah told the delegation that so far 20 polio cases were reported in Pakistan since April 2022, all belonged to Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The environmental samples collected from different parts of the other provinces also contained traces of the poliovirus.
He told the delegation that all the environmental samples in Sindh during last year had turned out to be negative except for one sample collected from District Malir of Karachi.
Shah said that vigilance had been increased at all the exit and entry points of the province where 30,0937 children hailing from the vulnerable areas of South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been administered polio drops before letting them enter Sindh.
He said the province was all set to achieve more milestones in its drive to eradicate polio if it continued to work hard for the noble cause of safeguarding the health of coming generations.
He said the sustained immunisation drive of his government had achieved 60 per cent reduction in the number of children who were not covered by the campaign or their concerned parents refused participation in the vaccination programme.
He told the delegation that more efforts would be undertaken by his government to reduce the ratio of children not covered by the immunisation drive, especially in Karachi.
Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho briefed the delegation that services of over 27,000 volunteers had been engaged to conduct a new weeklong polio immunisation campaign to administer polio drops to 2,77,1089 children in eight vulnerable districts of the province. She said that 2,943 male and 113 female personnel would perform security duties to protect the polio workers.