Another child becomes victim of polio in Balochistan

Published November 27, 2014
Polio teams in Balochistan have been facing refusal by parents to administer polio drops to their children. -AP/File
Polio teams in Balochistan have been facing refusal by parents to administer polio drops to their children. -AP/File

QUETTA: Another child has fallen prey to the polio virus in Balochistan.

The virus was found in a nine-month old infant from Muslim Bagh Killa Saifullah, sources in Balochistan Health Department told Dawn.com on Thursday evening.

Polio cases in Balochistan this year now stands at 15 with the new case.

Officials termed refusal on the part of parents as the underlying reason behind increasing polio cases in Balochistan.

Polio teams across the province have been facing refusal by parents to administer polio drops to their children.

The polio case has been reported a day after militants killed three female and a male polio worker in Quetta's Eastern Bypass area on Wednesday.

Read also: Polio workers boycott campaign in Balochistan as 4 workers gunned down

Currently the number of polio cases across the country reached 266 with the new case in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, the provincial government has decided to re-launch the anti-polio campaign in different parts of Quetta on Saturday.

Home Secretary Balochistan, Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn.com that 900 police and levies personnel were deployed in the city to guard 58 polio teams in the city.

"We have also decided to impose a ban on pillion riding in sensitive areas during the campaign," Durrani said.

Most of the cases have been reported from Quetta and Killa Abdullah districts of Balochistan.

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