April 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428

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LAHORE, April 23: Already lagging behind some two years or so its target, emergence of seven new polio cases in the country this year has dashed hopes of Pakistan to become a polio-free state by 2010.

The Extended Immunisation Programme, Punjab, director Afzal Shaheen, said on Monday that seven new polio cases — three in Sindh, two each in Balochistan and NWFP - had been detected. Pakistan was among three countries - India, Afghanistan and Nigeria - where the World Health Organisation had declared the disease epidemic.

According to the WHO standards, a country is declared a polio-free state three years after non-emergence of a case.

Last year, 39 polio cases were reported in the country. Doctors say if a single case of polio is reported in any part of a country it indicates outbreak of the disease.

The authorities concerned last year had made claims that with the launch of coordinated anti-polio campaigns they would manage to control the disease completely. However, the figure shows that a lot more is required on their part to achieve the desired results.

Some medical experts are of the view that the government considers such campaigns the only tool to deal with the problem and never bothers to take into account the drug used in vaccine. Sometimes the people engaged in the door-to-door campaigns may have no idea about maintaining the temperature of the vaccine, they add.

They point out that tampered facts of such drives are often reported to the higher authorities, keeping them unaware about the facts. Such campaigns usually never cover the assigned area thus exposing the population of the uncovered one to the disease.

The experts suggest that the health authorities must analyse why the drug used in the vaccine is not effectively working. There is also need to train the staff engaged in such drives. They also propose that as they (campaigns) are not producing the desired results, maximum number of vaccine centres should be set up especially in remote areas so that their staff can create awareness among their residents.

Dr Afzal Shaheen said at least four national immunisation and as many special campaigns had been launched across the country every year to control the disease. Besides this, he said frequent immunisation programmes were being initiated in the areas where polio cases had been reported.

DRIVE: The three-day polio immunisation campaign is being launched on Tuesday.

In Punjab, polio drops would be administered to 14.9 million children under five during the campaign. To monitor the campaign, 1,186 zonal supervisors, 127 tehsil supervisors and 7,584 area in charges have reportedly been deputed. Some 264 district-campaign support persons would also observe it.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the programme at the Children’s Hospital here on Monday, Health Minister Chaudhry Iqbal said with the cooperation of all segments of society and international donor organisations, polio would be completely eradicated from the country soon.

He said no such case had been detected in Punjab for the last 10 months.

He said parents, teachers, nazims and ulema should play their role in this regard. The government would facilitate the NGOs and private sector to join hands with the government to eliminate the disease.