Shamsul-Amin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: The National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) Islamabad notified two polio cases from the Bajaur tribal district of erstwhile Fata on Saturday.
Emergency Operation Centre(EOC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in its report said that the National Institute of Health has isolated wild poliovirus from the stool sample of a 36-months-old boy, Abdurehman and a 78-Months-old girl Nabila and confirmed as polio cases.
The infected children were the residents of village Jaba Manzai, Union Council Tali, Tehsil Salarzai of district Bajaur, NEOC Islamabad notified.
The report said that both children received more than seven doses of oral polio vaccine and zero doses of essential/routine vaccination. However, the children show slight weakness in one of the limbs or slight paralysis.
Coordinator EOC Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Capt. (R). Kamran Ahmed Afridi said “Every confirmed polio case from Bajaur is proof in itself that gap exists and there is a need for improving the quality of the campaign. He said task teams/syndicates have already been notified who should identify gaps and propose the strategy to recover”.
He advised the provincial team to ensure access to and vaccination of every child, especially in Bajaur during the upcoming anti-polio campaign. He said any delinquency on the part of any officer will be dealt with strictly.
It is pertinent to mention here that with this another couple of polio cases emerged in Tribal Districts, and the count of total polio cases in Tribal Districts during 2018 raised to six polio cases: five polio cases emerged in Bajaur and one polio case in Khyber.
