WITH the country reporting 16 polio cases so far this year, a substantial decrease over the previous years, and the virus hopefully in its dying phase, attention must concurrently focus on the rehabilitation of survivors. True, the government is putting in extra effort to eradicate the disease as it battles mindsets that reject polio drops as well as security threats in its aim to vaccinate children across the country. But it has yet to recognise the suffering of those left crippled for life. For the most part, polio survivors are left to defy the odds on their own, as illustrated in a report carried yesterday by this newspaper: Naqeebullah Ehsas’s struggle as a polio survivor shows his resilience. Not able to walk, he crawled to school through a two-kilometre rugged stretch of land. When beaten viciously and unable to defend himself, he turned to education rather than wallow in self-pity. His determination is to be saluted, but his experience could have been less painful had he had some support from a caring state and access to free rehabilitation centres and mobility aids at a young age. This is an area where the state should invest greater efforts so that polio survivors are in a better position to cope with their handicap — even if the physical effects of the infectious disease are irreversible. It should think in terms of making the lives of polio survivors more comfortable and independent — and publicly encourage their determination to live productive lives.
Regrettably, the government lacks multi-disciplinary healthcare approaches aimed at treating and integrating polio survivors into society. While it is commendable that a coordinated national immunisation programme and the surveillance of high-risk populations has accelerated efforts to lower the incidence of polio, the goal being to reach the zero mark, medical interventions would provide survivors with more opportunities to lead independent lives. Consider where the healthcare infrastructure is weakly serviced is also where the polio virus has spread rapidly. It is because the government has failed to provide social and economic safety nets to the most vulnerable in society that development comes piecemeal. The provincial health departments must prioritise their resources and expertise for the rehabilitation of polio survivors, so that even after the virus is eradicated, such programmes will demonstrate the state’s commitment to tackling the fallout of this crippling disease.
Published in Dawn October 25th, 2016