ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) is planning to seek assistance from the ministries of defence and interior to ensure foolproof security for polio vaccination teams in high-risk areas of the country.
The focal person of the Prime Minister Polio Monitoring Cell, Ayesha Raza Farooq, told The Express Tribune that she would meet the interior minister on Thursday (today) to discuss the security challenges that were hampering efforts to eradicate the crippling disease.
“In Pakistan, polio is not just a health issue now. It has become a political and security issue as well,” she said. The NHSRC ministry will soon approach the cabinet committee on polio and request for its first meeting to discuss the security challenges faced by vaccination teams.
Ayesha said the federal health ministry would strongly recommend the cabinet committee seek assistance from the ministries of defence and interior. “By improving security we can ensure that maximum numbers of children are vaccinated,” she added.
She said it was a responsibility of the provinces to ensure foolproof security for vaccinators in high-risk areas. “I would personally suggest the provincial governments either impose curfew or ban pillion-riding in high-risk areas to avoid Quetta-like attacks,” she said.
Environmental Samples
The National Institute of Health (NIH) on Wednesday revealed that environmental samples taken from sewage of 11 major cities were tested positive for poliovirus.
“Two sewage samples collected from Rawalpindi’s Hazara Colony and Safdarabad were tested positive,” sources told The Express Tribune. Similarly, two samples taken from Peshawar’s Shaheen Town and Larama, one from Multan’s Pumping Station, three from Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gadap and Baldia Town, one each from Hyderabad, Sukkur, Lahore, Quetta, Jacobabad were tested positive for poliovirus.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2014.