MULTAN, Oct 26 Confirmation of the fifth polio case in the district during the current year has not only raised a question on the performance of the district health department but also worried the high-ups in the department.

Reports said that blood samples of nine-month Bushra, a resident of Rangeelpur of Mauza Samorana, had been sent to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad for the examination after her family felt that legs of the child were too weak.

The examination report confirmed the polio virus, the second victim of polio case detected during the current month.

Sources said the poor performance of the health department was the main reason behind the increasing number of polio cases in the district because the full strength of the staff recruited for immunization was not deputed in the field.

“The shortage of staff in the field is due to improper monitoring of the staff and appointment of bogus immunization staff that has badly affected the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) coverage” they said.

The director-general of the health services in his letter No 1060-66 on June 2009 had asked Multan EDO (Health) Dr Iftikhar Hussain Qureshi to take all necessary steps to improve the routine EPI coverage and ensure that the children were fully immunized.

The director-general had also stated that two cases of polio (Type-1) in Jalalpur Pirwala tehsil, with onset of paralysis in April 2009, and one case in Shujabad tehsil, with onset of paralysis in May 2009, had been confirmed by the NIHI.

The letter also said that the Director Health Services (EPI) along with representatives of the World Health Organization and Unicef visited both these tehsils and at random evaluated the routine EPI coverage in April.

As per his report, 58 children were checked in Jalalpur Pirwala out of whom only 11 were fully vaccinated and only 19 per cent children were fully immunized while in Shujabad tehsil 19 children were checked out of whom only two were fully vaccinated and only 11 per cent children were fully immunized.

After becoming aware of the situation, District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar expressed his displeasure over the performance of the EDO (Health) and his department and issued an explanation letter to him on June 23.

In his letter, the district nazim stated that figures revealed an alarming low percentage of fully immunized children in Jalalpur Pirwala and Shujabad tehsils.

He said the Multan district had been polio-free for the last two years and the situation became worse owing to the outbreak of polio cases in the district.

EDO (Health) Dr Iftikhar Hussain Qureshi was unavailable for comments as he kept his cell phone powered off.