MIRPURKHAS, Nov 25: The director-general of Sindh health services, Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, has said that the polio situation remains alarming as 24 cases of the disease have been found in Sindh despite several rounds of immunization campaign.

Speaking at a meeting here on Thursday, Mr Jatoi held officials of the health department responsible for this setback in fight against polio.

The meeting was attended by Taluka Nazims Ghulam Mustafa Khaskheli, Qazi Faizullah Sandh, Javed Ahmed Papa, EDO health Dr Hadi Bux Laghari and representatives of the WHO.

He said any official found guilty of negligence and corruption would be terminated from service. Mr Jatoi said other countries in the world were declared polio-free after three to four rounds of immunization but in our country around 50 rounds had been completed but cases continued to appear.

He said that Rs150 million given by donors were being spent on each round of polio eradication campaign in Sindh. He appealed to religious scholars, elected representatives and notables to play their role in fight against polio.

He said honesty on the part of health officials remained main problem though they had sufficient staff, budget and medicines at their disposal. WHO representative Dr Mehmood Azmodeh said two cases of polio appeared in Karachi, three each in Sanghar and Jacobabad, five in Hyderabad, one each in Nawabshah, Dadu and Larkana, two in Ghotki and six in Mirpurkhas.

He said repetition of polio drops was not dangerous for health of children and that there used to be 6,000 cases of polio in Sindh but the last year there were only 29 cases followed by 24 this year.

WATER SHORTAGE: Growers of Doso distributary originating from the Jamrao canal have said that sowing of wheat has been affected due to an acute water shortage in the area. They said that during last fifteen days they were unable to sow wheat crop on their lands due to non-supply of water to their distributary.