BALOCHISTAN: At least 4,443 cases of refusal vaccination refusal were recorded in Balochistan's Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah districts and the children who were documented will be administered polio vaccines, according to Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Cell Balochistan Dr Syed Saifur Rehman.

Dr. Syed Saif Ur Rehman said that the list of parents refusing vaccine for their children has been thoroughly documented.

He held a meeting to review the investigation of newly emerged polio case in Quetta which brought the total number of cases in Balochistan to five in this year of 2015.

Read: Balochistan's fifth polio case of the year confirmed in Quetta

Ghulam Mustafa, the father of the affected five-year-old girl Gul Afsha, is a medical technician who had never administered polio drops to his children citing religious beliefs. The girl lives outskirts of Quetta.

"It is very tragic that a medical technician in Quetta has been refusing vaccination for his children. It has resulted in a life-long paralysis of his daughter," Dr. Saif Ur Rehman told reporters.

He said it is unimaginable that a medical technician who often deals with suffering patients could refuse administration of polio vaccine to his children. "I think it is an offence," he said.

The father should have been jailed because he was the sole person responsible for paralysing his five-year-old daughter, according to Balochistan's ECO coordinator.

"The fight against the polio is very difficult and we have to win this war," Dr. Saif Ur Rehman further said.

"The health workers and experts have documented each and every child in Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah who have not been vaccinated," he said.

Coordinator of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Balochistan, Dr. Syed Saif Ur Rehman has said there were 44 per cent refusal cases out of total 25 polio virus cases reported in 2014 in Balochistan, while this year three out of five reported cases are refusals which make more than 50 per cent.

Out of the 4,443 refusal cases, around 1,762 cases have been reported in Zarghon, 1,219 in Quetta's Chiltan Town, 719 in Pishin Tehsil, 133 in Karezat Teshil of Pishin district while 159 cases were recorded in Chaman Town which borders Afghanistan, and 153 cases in Tehsil Killah Abdullah of Killah Abdullah district, the official of Unicef 's Communication Network (COMNet) said.

Also read: 4,000 parents in northern Balochistan refuse polio vaccination

"There are 4,443 children and 1,541 houses in Quetta who have not administered polio vaccine," Dr. Syed Saif Ur Rehman said. "The person refuses to administer polio drops should be treated as a criminal and offender."

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world which have not been able to eradicate the polio-virus while no case of polio virus was reported in Nigeria over a year.

Refusal on the part of some parents and attacks at polio workers and volunteers remain the main reasons behind failure to eliminate the virus. Polio campaigns are usually postponed and suspended owing to security reasons in Quetta.

The government had declared a polio emergency throughout the province to root out the crippling virus from the region