20 January 2004	Tuesday	27 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 19: Awami National Party's provincial chief Begum Nasim Wali Khan has urged the people from all walks of life to take part in the polio campaign and save the children from the crippling ailment.

Speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of a three-day anti-polio campaign here at Lady Reading Hospital on Monday, she praised the WHO and Unicef for their generous support for the eradication of polio in this part of the world.

"I belong to an opposition party, but there is no opposition in as far as the solution of health problems is concerned. All the political parties should join forces to ensure that no child below the age of five is left out of being administered polio drops," said the ANP leader.

The former MPA and opposition leader in the provincial assembly deplored that the polio-infected children had no means even to purchase a wheel-chair and they resorted to begging in the streets.

"We can save them from the crippling infection. We should administer them the drops, which are administered free of charge by the health workers," said Begum Nasim.

However, she came hard on the doctors community, saying they must serve the ailing humanity. She also spoke about the scant health facilities at the public sector hospitals, where she said poor patients ran from pillar to post to get treatment.

Health Minister Inayatullah Khan was of the view that incidence of polio had registered a decline, saying the number of cases had come down to 32 from a previous 400.

He said facilities had been provided to health workers to make the campaign a success. He hoped that polio would be eradicated from the NWFP by the year 2005.

The WHO's representative Dr Rudi Tangermann commended the participation of the opposition party leaders. "Such kind of support by the opposition is visible only in the NWFP, which is indicative of the spirit and seriousness of politicians towards tackling the problem of polio," she said.

Dr Abraham of the WHO informed the audience that 15,000 teams had been formed to administer polio drops to 5.41 million children in the NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). He said that 96 polio cases had been detected in Pakistan of which the NWFP had 32. Unicef chief Osama Makavi urged the parents to ensure that their children get the polio drops.