PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai on Tuesday demanded that the federal government ensure end to transportation of polio virus to the provincial capital by vaccination of all Fata children.
The demand comes as the samples of sewage water from two Peshawar areas test negative for polio virus.
The minister told Dawn on Tuesday that the federal government appeared to be non-serious as despite several requests of the provincial government, neither efforts had been made to vaccinate Fata children in Fata nor were such efforts in sight.
“We are concerned that our Sehat Ka Insaf programme, which helped Peshawar free from polio after two years will go to waste as the virus exists in the nearby Fata areas, which are directly governed by the federal government,” he said.
Mr Tarakai said his government was perturbed over the federal government’s silence on transportation of polio virus from Fata to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“I’d requested state minister for health services Saira Afzal Tarar in a recent meeting that polio virus poses threats to the entire country, so coordinated approach should be taken to tackle the challenge but to no avail,” he said.
The minister said his government’s request to the federal government to take up the issue of the children’s vaccination in border areas with the Afghan government had yet to draw a positive response.
He said the province had done remarkably well against polio but such performance could be sustained only if the centre cooperated.
Mr Tarakai offered technical support to Punjab and Sindh governments to successfully contain polio after sewage water samples in Lahore and Karachi tested positive for polio.
“Our health department’s experience in coping with polio has been acclaimed widely,” he said.
The minister said the federal government should spearhead anti-polio efforts as vaccine-preventable childhood diseases could pose serious threats to all citizens.
He said his government could assist the centre’s vaccination efforts in Fata, which had reported 71 per cent (47) of this year’s 61 countrywide polio cases.
Mr Tarakai said the provincial government had spent Rs730 million on vaccination and would allocate Rs530 million for it in the next budget.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province, which had awarded Rs1 million to the relatives of volunteers, who had become victims of the armed anti-polio campaign since Dec 2012.
The minister said the violence victims’ heirs were also given employment in the health department.
He said his government had requested the relevant authorities for vaccine supplies in view of the WHO’s recommendation of vaccination certificate needed to fly abroad from Pakistan.
