PESHAWAR, Aug 11: Health Minister Naseer Mohammad Khan said on Thursday that the polio virus would be eradicated from the country by the end of the current year.

“A decade ago, Pakistan had 20,000 polio cases, which have come down to 12 this year, the minister said at the press club’s Guest Hour programme.

He said Pakistan was among six countries still recording polio cases.

“Let there be a commitment that no child below the age of five years is left out of the immunization campaign,” he said.

He praised the efforts put in by the health department in this regard in the NWFP, where Afghan refugees migrated frequently.

He said that about 150,000 people were involved in the national anti-polio campaign and efforts in this regard were being coordinated with Afghanistan.

He said more 90 per cent of polio victims got paralyzed as there was no cure to the disease.

The only way was immunization, which was being administered free of cost, he said.

He said the federal health budget had been raised to Rs10.5 billion this year to strengthen the primary healthcare system.

He said Rs2.5 billion had been allocated for the prevention of hepatitis, which had been making inroads in all the provinces.

“An amount of Rs2.9 billion has been embarked for a national programme to control blindness. For this purpose, surveys and checkups of students will be carried out at the school level,” he said.

Another Rs1.5 billion had been allocated to strengthen tertiary level system in the Karachi, he said.

The minister said Rs11 billion had been allocated this year to strengthen the extended programme on immunization.

The EPI coverage was 73 per cent, which could be increased to 98 per cent, he said, adding that polio vaccination’s coverage was 99.7 per cent.

“Our government has stopped receiving loans from international banks. We have received $127 million from donor organizations,” he said.

He said Rs900 million had been allocated for three schemes in the NWFP, including the construction of a new district headquarters hospital in Nowshera and a women’s medical college.

He said 53 per cent of medicines were cheaper in Pakistan than India.

The minister said efforts were afoot to launch projects for provision of safe drinking water and blood products to people.

“We can put brakes on 80 per cent of the ailments by providing clean drinking water and safe blood to people,” he said.

In this connection, he said, an ordinance was being implemented soon.

Traditional medicine was being given legal cover, he said.