HYDERABAD, Sept 2: The director-general of Health Services, Sindh, Dr Ghulam Nabi Memon, has urged parents to get children under five years of age vaccinated for polio.

He expressed concern over detection of polio cases and said that 41 polio cases have so far been reported from different parts of the country.

He was speaking at a meeting here on Tuesday which was attended by the executive district officers of health department.

Out of 41 polio cases, he said, 16 were reported from different parts of the NWFP, 13 from Sindh, seven from Punjab, four from Balochistan and one from Islamabad.

In Sindh, polio cases were detected from Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Dadu, Shikarpur, Karachi, Mirpurkhas, Naushero Feroz, Jacobabad and Khairpur, he said. He added that if effective measures were not taken, polio disease can spread among other children of the province.

He said during 1997, 493 cases were reported from Pakistan and with continuous efforts of the health department, the polio cases plummeted to 41.

Following non- accomplishment of the target of making the country polio-free, the donor agencies have shown their resentment and called for strict action against those who failed to control the disease, he said.

He called for efforts to combat the disease and make Sindh a polio-free province.—APP