QUETTA: This year’s second polio case for Quetta was detected in a 12-month-old baby in the provincial capital on Wednesday.
Dr Ishaq Panezai of Balochistan’s health department said the virus was found in 12-month-old Gul Muhammad, born to a family residing in Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area.
Panezai said Gul Muhammad’s family had remained adamant against having him administered with the polio vaccine which has now resulted in him being affected with the virus.
Eastern Bypass is home to a large number of Afghan refugees and a polio team was also attacked in the area a couple of years back. It was yet to be ascertained whether the baby was born in a family of local residents or of refugees from Afghanistan.
According to sources in the health department, refusal on part of some families to have their children administered with the polio vaccine was a major challenge for the authorities.
The first polio case in Balochistan in recent years was reported in the Killa Abdullah district's Maizai area on July 24 this year, following which more cases were reported. A vaccination drive to control the virus was also recently carried out in the province.
