Health minister assures to investigate resurfacing of polio in Attock

ATTOCK - Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid assured that the provincial health authorities would probe the surfacing of poliovirus type 2 case in Hazro town of Attock and all those responsible for negligence of not covering the child in anti-polio drive would be dealt accordingly. She was talking to newsmen in Attock on Tuesday. She was accompanied by Chairman Public Accounts Committee Syed Yawar Abbas Bokhari, Deputy Commissioner Attock Ali Anan Qamar, District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Sohail Ijaz, Medical Superintendent DHQ Hospital Attock Dr Khalid Mehmood , Deputy Director Public Relations Shahzad Niaz Khokhar, PTI Focal Person Syed Khawar Abbas Bokhari, Chaudhry Abid and others. Provincial health minister said that a probe committee led by Punjab Special Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Care Ajmal Bhatti would complete the study for re-surfacing of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) — a strain of polio for which vaccinations in Pakistan were halted in 2014 — in Hazro town of Attock after 23 years. She further said that the mother of the Polio affected child came from abroad and this aspect will also be looked into. She said that negotiation is also initiated with WHO for provision of necessary vaccination to Pakistan which was halted in 2014. About establishment of state of the art mother and child hospital in Attock in a seven-room building which has been vacated by Comsats University, the Punjab Health Minister said that the 100-bed modern hospital over an area of 72 kanals would be established this year which would be enhanced to 200 beds during next fiscal year.

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