PESHAWAR: Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan has said that fatal diseases like polio have to be overcome through joint efforts to ensure a secure future for the nation.  

Addressing a special ceremony organised to observe the World Polio Day at Governor’s House here on Friday, he said that polio should not be judged as the misfortune of the affected children, rather the respective parents, society as a whole and the government institutions were equally responsible for the agonies they confronted for their entire life. 

He directed the provincial chief secretary to take every possible measure at the level of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata to get respective people, especially the internally displaced persons, fully protected against polio virus. 

“There is a need to develop a fully focused and well-coordinated arrangement to get rid of all such diseases,” the governor said. Keeping in view the prevailing situation in Fata, he said that the respective officials should be cognizant of the alarming state of spread of the polio disease.  

The function was also attended by chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan, ACS Fata Mohammad Azam Khan, officials of the Fata Health Department, representatives of civil society and children affected by polio virus. The governor also administered polio vaccine to children. 

Functions held in KP cities on World Polio Day

The governor said that special arrangements were required not only to re-launch polio vaccination campaigns, particularly in Fata, but also make them a complete success with efficient and joint efforts of both the civil administration and the Pakistan Army.  

At another function in Peshawar, speakers at a seminar on Friday urged the religious scholars and prayer leaders to play their role for eradication of polio, especially from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.

The seminar titled, “religious and media seminar on polio eradication” was organised by the International Research Council for Religious Affairs (IRCRA) at Peshawar Press Club.

Those who spoke on the occasion include Mufti Shabeer Ahmad, Mufti Dr Shaukatullah Khattak, UNICEF’s representative Dr Johar, WHO’s Dr Yahya Abdul Ghaffar, IRCRA project manager Zahid and some religious scholars and editors of Islamic magazines of Madaris.

Mufti Shabeer said that refusal by parents to get their children immunised against polio was the more important factor in increasing polio cases in Pakistan, particularly in KP and Fata.

Dr Johar appealed to the people to allow polio teams to immunise their children against the crippling disease.

Mufti Dr Shakautullah, who is also a pharmacist, said that he was opposed to the polio vaccination, but when he himself contacted a laboratory and found nothing injurious to health in the polio drops he started his full support to the polio eradication campaign.

LANDI KOTAL: The World Polio Day was observed in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency with political agent Shahab Ali Shah administering polio vaccine to children and taking part in an anti-polio walk. 

Officials of the administration along with tribal elders and members of civil society participated in the walk. On this occasion, Mr Shah urged the tribal elders and residents to help the government in its efforts to eradicate polio from the tribal areas.

Dawn, agency surgeon Dr Rehman Afridi said that all efforts would be made to vaccinate around 100,000 children below the age of five in both Jamrud and Landi Kotal tehsils during the ongoing vaccination campaign.

He said that the campaign was halted in Bara for the time being due to the start of Khyber-1 military operation.

LAKKI MARWAT: PTI MNA Ameerullah Marwat has said the refusal by parents to immunise their children against polio is unacceptable, asking the administration to initiate action against such people.

He was speaking at a seminar here to mark the World Polio Day. “A strategy should be put in place to reduce refusal cases in the district,” he said.  

Meanwhile, functions were also held in Tank and Charsadda to urge the people to play their role in eradication of the crippling disease from the society.

The speakers asked the participants to facilitate the vaccination teams to ensure that their respective areas remained free of polio and other preventable diseases.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014