ISLAMABAD: The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has expressed concern over changes in the leadership of the polio programme in Sindh, fearing it will affect Pakistan’s efforts for eradicating the crippling disease by the end of this year.

But Sharmila Farooqi, a member of the provincial assembly representing the Sindh government, told an IMB meeting that transfers of officials had no impact on government policies. She expressed the hope that the provincial government would overcome the menace of polio this year.

The IMB works on behalf of the international donor agencies and issues reports on performance of the countries involved in the fight against polio after every six months.

The issue was discussed at the board’s meeting in the United Kingdom on July 20 and 21. A Pakistani delegation participated in the meeting and defended the case of the country.

A participant of the meeting, who has returned to Pakistan, told Dawn that during the meeting IMB members had expressed concern over the governance issue in Sindh.

“They said that Pakistan was passing from a very important and critical period as it had to eradicate the virus by the end of the year. At this moment, changing of team leaders can lead to a problem,” he said.

“The removal of former commissioner of Karachi Asif Hyder Shah was particularly discussed in the meeting. The IMB members said that the changing of team leaders at such a critical stage could cause an irrecoverable loss to the polio programme,” he said.

“The issue arose while recommendations of the Technical Advisory Group on polio were being discussed in the meeting. The group stated in its report that frequent changes of senior management officials dealing with the polio programme and secretaries of government departments could affect the programme,” he said.

“Members of the IMB said that it was a matter of national interest and Pakistan needed to be more serious about it,” the official said.

The meeting was presided over by IMB Chairman Sir Liam Donaldson. Delegations of Afghanistan and Nigeria also participated in it and presented the cases of their countries.

The IMB is a powerful international body. In Nov 2012, it had recommended imposition of travel restrictions on Pakistani nationals and those recommendations were implemented on May 5, 2014.

When contacted, Secretary of National Health Services Ayub Sheikh confirmed that a number of issues, including the leadership of the polio programme, had been discussed in the meeting.

Talking to Dawn, Sharmila Farooqi said that government policies did not change with the transfer of officials.

“Before Mr Shah, Shoaib Siddiqui was also performing well as commissioner of Karachi, but he was transferred. Same staff is now working under the incumbent commissioner of Karachi which had worked under Mr Shah. The staff will play a vital role during polio campaigns,” she said.

“We are focused and hopeful that poliovirus will be completely eradicated by the end of this year,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2016