PESHAWAR: A network of religious scholars has expressed concern over the growing polio incidence in the country and demanded accountability of all those associated with polio vaccination programme since 1994.

“The government should intervene immediately to prevent polio outbreak and save the children. Both the government and its partner agencies should be held accountable for failure to contain polio,” Mufti Jehanzeb Khan told participants of meeting of 100 ulema on Thursday.

He said more than 7,000 ulema had run a Unicef-sponsored polio communication programme between 2009 and 2012 under the National Research and Development Foundation but the number of polio cases rose after its contract was terminated.

Mufti Jehanzeb said the government faced an uphill task of eliminating polio from a geographical block comprising Waziristan Agency and adjoining southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Bannu and Lakki Marwat, over the growing refusal of the children’s vaccination by parents.

Say ready to play role in polio eradication

“This block has been responsible for 76 countrywide polio cases of this year until now. Last year, Pakistan had reported 21 cases during the said period. North Waziristan Agency has reported 57 cases, South Waziristan Agency seven, Bannu nine, FR Bannu two and Lakki Marwat one. All this shows the government is unable to protect children against polio especially in light of the recent displacement of one million people from North Waziristan,” he said.

Another religious scholar, Mufti Jehanzeb, said the NRDF had brought down vaccination refusal cases to 200 only in Bannu but the number had gone back to 17,000.

He said Bannu had reported nine polio cases this year, while the crippling virus detected in four children genetically resembled with the one found in Waziristan.

Mufti Alamgir said it was the high time to hold accountability into spending billion of rupees for polio eradication as the polio incidence kept rising.

He said Pakistan was the only country, where polio was uncontrollable and thus, putting the life of children in other parts of the world at risk.

Religious scholar Maulana Shakoor said the NRDF with the help of ulema had almost done away with polio refusal cases.

“We’d brought down vaccination refusals to 6,000 only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has gone up to 35,000 now. The NRDF project was supposed to end in Dec 2012 but was terminated two months before without reason,” he said.

The religious scholar said the NRDF used pulpits in local mosques effectively which ended suspicions regarding vaccination in people’s minds.

NRDF national coordinator Tahseenullah Khan said religious scholars still wanted to play their role for polio eradication.

“We appreciate Unicef, WHO and other organisations for working for polio eradication. We have got a golden opportunity to administer polio drops to displaced children in Bannu and other southern districts to boost the government’s immunisation efforts,” he said.

Tahseenullah said religious scholars appreciated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department for taking action against six executive district officers (health), around 100 health technicians and other staff for poor anti-polio performance but unfortunately, there was no accountability at the Unicef.

“We urge the government to intervene without delay to stop further damage to anti-polio efforts by enhancing local ownership, accountability and oversight of the polio programme,” he said.

Tahseenullah said religious scholars demanded that the government run the immunisation programme by itself and assign clear responsibilities to the WHO and the Unicef to keep them from exceeding their mandate.

Senior polio coordinator of the WHO in Pakistan Dr Elias Durry said the situation warranted immediate action in Bannu and other IDP-hosting districts.

“We desperately need to vaccinate each and every child in the country. There is an imminent threat that Pakistan may face stricter restrictions if it doesn’t fulfil its commitment on polio eradication,” he said

He said he was hopeful that the recent opportunity to reach thousands of North Waziristan children for vaccination against polio would be best availed.

“The global image of Pakistan on polio front will definitely change for good when the polio incidence begin to drop,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 254th, 2014