PESHAWAR, Sept 7: The government has decided to take action against the parents refusing polio immunisation of their children in Peshawar district, District Coordination Officer Siraj Ahmed Khan told this correspondent on Wednesday.

He said that the government was taking the rising number of polio cases seriously and it had been decided to initiate action against people who would resist administering oral polio vaccine (OPV) to their children.

“We will use all our options, including getting the services of religious scholars to prevail upon the people, but if that did not work, we will take action against the refusing parents under the law,” Mr Khan said and added that parents should vaccinate their children to safeguard them against the crippling ailment.

The DCO also said that people instigating others against the OPV would be arrested under the MPO (Maintenance of Public Order). He said that an Afghan family – wherein the fourth case in Peshawar district had been registered – would face deportation as a case would be registered against them for illegal stay in the country under the 14 Foreigners Act.

He said that the Afghan families were spreading the poliovirus in Peshawar and elsewhere in the province that warranted action. The local families refusing vaccination of their children would also be booked under the 16 and 3 MPO, he said.

Health officials associated with the polio eradication efforts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told this correspondent that tackling refusals had become a big problem and the government was under tremendous pressure from the United Nations and other donor agencies to cope with the situation.

They said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had recorded seven of the total 80 polio cases in the country this year so far, of which five had not received any OPV due to refusal by their parents. They said that three of the four polio-affected children in Peshawar district didn't receive any OPV while one each positive child reported from Bannu and Torghar districts also remained unvaccinated.

The officials said that roughly 17,000 children in the province remained without immunization in every campaign due to unwillingness by their parents. They said that Peshawar had over 4,000 children who had not been immunised in the past one year due to refusals.

The officials claimed that in almost all cases the refusing parents argued, though due to lack of knowledge, that vaccination was not allowed in Islam. “We are arguing with them that the Saudi government has made it compulsory for the intending Hajis to have OPV though they were over five years of age. But they do not try to understand and we have long been recommending legal action to the government against such people,” they said.

The officials said that by giving OPV to the children they not only wanted to safeguard them against poliomyelitis, but also to stop the spread of virus.

Meanwhile, the provincial government launched a three-day anti-polio campaign in seven districts and high-risk union councils of 18 districts on Wednesday.