MIRAMSHAH: The health department on Monday claimed that the outbreak of diphtheria in Mirali tehsil of North Waziristan tribal district was under control.

In a news release issued, the department said the health workers vaccinated 193 children in an area, where a suspected case of the acute contagious infection was reported on Sunday.

It said diphtheria cases had been recorded in the area two weeks ago and the local workers vaccinated children.

The department said Faryal Bibi, 8, was shifted to Rawalpindi for treatment.

It said the local doctors visited the area but didn’t find any other case.

The department added that a five-day plan was made to administer vaccine to the children at risk.

It said the children of surrounding villages including Mussaki, Eppi, Haiderkhel, Hussokhel, Hurmaz, Zereki, Khaddi and Eidak were immunised.

The department said measures were being taken to create awareness of the importance of vaccination for safety of children.

“We want to create demand for the vaccination, which is freely available at the government’s hospitals throughout the province, including merged tribal districts,” it said.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2018