ISLAMABAD - Three new wild type-1 polio cases on Thursday were confirmed from North Waziristan Agency taking the total count of the cases to 39.
The National Institute of Health has confirmed the polio cases from North Waziristan at a time when the World Health Organization has formally declared India polio-free.
Muhammad, son of Ghaisuddin, five months old male child, resident of village Mama Khel, Tehsil Mir Ali, was paralyzed with the virus as he was given no dose of the vaccine. Sabeer Ullah, son of Rasool Ghani, a 13 months old male child, resident of village Piran Kalla, tehsil Miran Shah, also missed the polio vaccine drops.
Muhammad Murad, son of Afsa Noor, a 14 months old male child, resident of village Nari Kalla, Tehsil Razmak, also contracted the virus as he could not be vaccinated.
So far total polio count has reached 39 and among them 33 cases have surfaced from FATA (NWA 30, SWA 01, Khyber 01, FR Bannu 01), 5 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar 03, Bannu 02) and 1 from Sindh (Baldia Karachi). There is an outbreak like situation in NWA as children in areas have remained inaccessible for the past two years due to the imposed ban on the vaccination drive.
The nationwide anti-polio drive, started from Monday last, has so far claimed four lives in Balochistan and Sindh including police officials.
Questions are being raised on week-long campaigns in the country and international eradication partners suggest that there should be one day campaigns like ‘Sehat Ka Insaf’ programme under which in Peshawar around 600,000 children were immunised in one day against nine diseases and polio is one of them.