LAHORE, April 6: The Punjab Health Department may not be able to eradicate polio from the province this year, as three cases have been reported during the first three months. Two polio cases have been reported from Muzaffargarh and one from Faisalabad.

Although the world donor agencies are expecting that the disease will be eradicated from the country by the end of this year and the health department is launching vaccination campaigns, the target is unlikely to be met this year.

In February this year, Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed, flanked by the WHO and Unicef representatives, had announced that polio would be eradicated from the Punjab this year. The minister didn't explain the strategy for covering the weak areas in the anti-polio vaccination campaign, though he claimed that the department had identified those areas.

During the news conference, WHO regional director's special adviser on polio, Dr M H Wahdan, had said the WHO had fixed a target to eradicate polio from Pakistan by December this year. He had also said that Pakistan's federal health minister had agreed to ensure eradication within the stipulated time.

WHO country representative Dr Khalife Bille said at a seminar, organized by the WHO in connection with the World Health Day on Tuesday, six polio cases had been detected in the country in the first quarter of this year. Of those, he said, three had been reported from the Punjab - two from Muzaffargarh and one from Faisalabad.