SWABI, Jan 1: Cases of refusal by parents to administer polio drops to their children are increasing and a number of illiterate families in different regions here have been resisting polio vaccination, Dawn has learnt here on Saturday.

Insiders said that earlier there were only few regions in the mountainous Gadoon Amazai belt where people would decline to give polio vaccine to their children. “Malikabad was on top in Gadoon areas where majority of people rejected polio drops for their children,” said an official of the health department who had frequently visited the area to convince people on administering polio drops to their children.

“We have returned hopeless from Malikabad on a number of occasions,” he said. The official recalled that the first reported polio case in the district in the last 10 years had forced the health department and district administration to concentrate on polio vaccination campaign.

Health officials said that the case was confirmed on June 30 last and the victim, two-year-old Zulaikha, daughter of Rehman Wali of Logar province of Afghanistan, had been living in Baraki camp for the last many years.

The officials said that the refusal cases and the steps that could be taken to improve the situation were discussed by health authorities with the district coordination officer.

The health staff was duty-bound to give their reports to the health officers, said the sources. They said that a suggestion to engage NGO staff for educating people on the importance of polio drops had been under consideration.

The sources said that both the health and district administration officials had stressed on creating awareness among people that there was nothing wrong in the polio drops and the single objective of the anti-polio drive was to protect children from disability caused by poliovirus.

When contacted, a senior health officer disclosed on condition of anonymity that the number of refusal cases had swelled to 3,000.

SWINE FLU: District health officer Dr Gul Muhammad told Dawn on Saturday that six people had been admitted to the isolation ward established in Shahmansoor Hospital Complex for the swine flu patients.

He said that so far only three positive cases had been confirmed and blood samples of another five had been sent to Islamabad by the surveillance officer of World Health Organisation (WHO). He said that two of the positive swine flu patients had been discharged after treatment at the hospital.