PESHAWAR: The health authorities are deeply concerned over circulation of poliovirus in Peshawar and Bannu districts and have called an emergency meeting to cope with the alarming situation, especially in the aftermath of the April 22 incident in which thousands of children landed in hospitals due to alleged reaction of the oral polio vaccine.

In a letter sent to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on May 11, Prime Minister Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Babar Atta has expressed concerns over the rising cases of polio in the province and has asked him to convene a meeting with commissioners of Peshawar and Bannu on May 15 to discuss the situation.

The letter entitled “alarming situation of polio in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” has pointed out that the province has recorded 10 cases of the total 15 registered countrywide this year so far. “It is a matter of grave concerns and should be discussed to deal with the situation,” it added.

The letter said that Bannu had recorded five cases and North Waziristan two while Bajaur, Hangu and Khyber had recorded one case each in 2019 so far whereas poliovirus was being detected persistently in the sewage water of Peshawar, Bannu, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan and South Waziristan.

The letter said that the April 22 incident in which anti-polio elements staged a drama and took to hospitals thousands of children for alleged reaction of the vaccination further exposed the children to poliomyelitis.

“The current situation needs to be tackled effectively and aggressively through collective efforts by all stakeholders. However, the main responsibility lies with the respective district management,” it said.

The letter said that to hold threadbare deliberations on the ongoing polio situation, a high level delegation headed by Federal Minister of State for National Health Services Zafar Mirza would be visiting Peshawar on May 15 for a meeting of the provincial task force on polio eradication.

The meeting, to be held with chief minister in the chair, will be attended by members of the task force, health minister, chief secretary, IGP, commissioners of Peshawar and Bannu divisions. The commissioners of Bannu and Peshawar will share with the meeting the reasons of failure of polio emergency programme in their respective areas.

The federal delegation will also meet chief minister and chief secretary prior to participating in the provincial task force meeting.

Sources said that the government was extremely concerned over the situation because it wouldn’t be able to run the vaccination campaign in the high-risk areas of Peshawar due to the incident in Badhber village where people were opposed to oral polio vaccination.

Soon after the incident, the government held a probe into it that found that vaccination was safe but the residents of the area where the incident occurred were not willing to vaccinate their children. The health workers were also scared to be sent to the area due to the angry parents, who were yet to be convinced that OPV was safe.

“In such a scenario, the government wants to find ways to have smooth sailing of polio vaccination campaign in places which are infamous for refusal against vaccination for years. The government is likely to focus on the administrative issues in Peshawar and Bannu because it is not possible for the vaccinators to visit the hotspots and put their lives at the razor’s edge,” said sources.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2019