PESHAWAR, March 8: Chief Minister Akram Durrani has said that the international community has not fulfilled its commitments regarding financial assistance to the government for hosting millions of Afghan refugees.

"About half of the patients at the local hospitals are Afghan refugees, but no financial support is forthcoming, as was pledged by the international community and donor agencies," lamented the chief minister, while inaugurating a three-day anti-polio campaign here at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) on Monday.

Be it education, health, employment, water, sanitation and other sectors, the Afghan refugees had become a permanent burden on the local community, he said and added that the NWFP badly needed the international financial support to compensate for its services, it had been providing to the refugees over the last three decades.

Mr Durrani asked ulema to create awareness among the people regarding the importance of administering polio drops to save children from the ailment. "People believe ulema. They should assist the government in its campaign against polio," said Mr Durrani.

About the health-care scenario, he said that the government was considering establishing well-equipped hospitals at the district level to help the patients at the doorsteps, but said that it required financial support from the international donor community.

Health Secretary Dr Ihsanul Haq said that most of the countries having a history of polio cases had eradicated the disease through commitment and well-devised strategies.

So far, 14 cases of polio had been detected throughout the world, of which five - three in Punjab and two in the NWFP - happened to be in Pakistan this year.

Health Minister Inayatullah said that the government had already showed great performance with regard to raising awareness regarding hepatitis and HIV/AIDS and hoped that polio would also be eradicated by the end of the current year.

He said that the government had involved ulema in its preventive campaigns against diseases, which had shown remarkable results. He urged ulema to educate the masses through sermons at the mosques to do away with the ailment and establish a polio- free society.

The ambassador of Japan said that his government had been supporting Pakistan in health sector since 1996, which had spent about $48 million so far. Japan, he said had provided Rs10 million for purchase of vaccines during the current year and pledged to continue supporting Pakistan.

The deputy director of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), Dr Abdul Waheed, said that no children should be missed out in the campaign. He asked the people to administer polio drops to the children even if they were asleep. Representatives of the WHO and officials of the health departments also attended the ceremony.