DG health confirms polio virus presence in Faisalabad

LAHORE: Director General Health Dr Munir Ahmed on Friday confirmed presence of the polio virus in Faisalabad, ARY News reported.

As per details, the samples that were taken from Achkera pumping station for test of polio virus were ‘positive’.

The crippling virus has been reported in Lahore and Rawalpindi, earlier, the virus was detected in Faisalabad in 2016.

“An anti-polio drive will kick-off on February 18 in Faisalabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi to overpower this crippling virus from the areas completely,” Dr Munir said.

He appealed parents of the children to make sure to administer anti-polio drops to their children, in order to save their future and help Pakistan is becoming a ‘polio free country’.

On Thursday, the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication Babar Bin Atta had confirmed that second polio case of the year-2019 surfaced in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Babar Bin Atta said that a two-year-old boy was diagnosed with the crippling virus in Bannu.

He said that Bannu is one of the areas, where parents usually refused to have polio drops administered to their children.

Back in the month of January, the government had decided to raise daily wage of the workers busy in anti-polio vaccination by Rs100 which would make their remuneration Rs500 a day.

Sources said the decision would be applicable to all the 0.2 million polio workers all over the country from February 1.