KARACHI: An 18-month-old girl from a Pakhtun family was confirmed to be the first polio case of Karachi in a year and fifth in Sindh since January, officials said on Thursday.

The last such case in Karachi was reported from Gadap Town on Oct 14, 2014.

The town health officer of Gulberg said the health authorities had received confirmation of poliovirus in the 18-month-girl living in Gulberg Town from the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, where her stool samples were sent for an examination three weeks back.

‘Please cooperate with polio teams and bring your children for vaccination to protect them from the crippling disease’

The girl’s family belongs to the Mehsud tribe. It had arrived here from Waziristan Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas a year ago.

Shafiq Colony, where the family lives, is a predominantly Pakhtun neighbourhood near Sohrab Goth.

Officials said she had a history of a high-grade fever and weakness of both lower limbs.

They said her vaccination status was zero in routine immunisation campaigns, but her mother told the authorities that she was inoculated with two doses a year back.

“Her family was among those who had been refusing to vaccinate children against polio,” said a senior official.

Dr Usman Chachar, coordinator for emergency operations centre for polio in Sindh, said the EOC was launching a case investigation in an attempt to prevent more such cases in the future. He said the child had not received any routine immunisation dose and she was “kept hidden from polio teams by the family”.

“We appeal to the parents that please cooperate with polio teams and bring your children for vaccination to protect them from the crippling disease,” said Dr Chachar.

Officials said in the same period last year, 23 polio cases had surfaced in Sindh –– 21 of them in Karachi.

Security problem

Want of security remained an issue on Thursday for smooth completion of the four-day polio campaign launched by the provincial health authorities on Wednesday, officials said.

The campaign, sources said, saw a smaller police force in most of the 80 union councils where the anti-polio drive was under way. However, they added, by risking their lives, hundreds of polio teams walked all the way and covered more than 30 per cent of the total target they have to achieve during the planned four days.

However, officials said, the problem persisted on the second day, Thursday, when many teams had to wait for police guards for hours in many union councils and lost precious time.

In various parts of Baldia Town, sources said, teams could not go to the field. Thus they would have extra burden for the next two days given they got the required security.

Originally, officials said, they had asked for 4,000 police guards for their teams inoculating children aged five or less in the targeted neighbourhoods. However, the police hierarchy committed to provide 2,400 policemen, but sent fewer than 1,300.

A source said that with the insufficient number of policemen who, too, reported late at the designated places did allow the work to continue, but in the end it was quality that suffered.

Another official admitted that sparse security was available for the teams assigned to inoculate children in Gadap and Baldia, which forced the officials concerned not to permit them to leave the camp where they had congregated.

“There could be many reasons for the non-availability of security and one of them could be a sense of fear even in the ranks of our police force,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play