PM Imran urges parents to administer polio drops to their children

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday urged parents to actively take part in the administration of anti-polio drops to their children in an order to eradicate the virus from the country, ARY News reported.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the Nationwide Polio Eradication Campaign in Islamabad, the prime minister urged the nation to eradicate polio from the country as it is a ‘matter of shame’ that Pakistan is still among the countries in the world where polio continues to exist.

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“It is my humble request to all the mothers watching this event that if you are not reached by our polio team then you should set out to find polio workers and make sure your kids get the polio drops”

“Pakistan is among the very few countries that still have traces of polio, despite numerous successes rendered by polio staff,” said premier while lauding the sacrifices of polio workers.

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PM said that polio workers are heroes of Pakistan as they reached far-flung areas where people thought reaching was impossible. He added:  “We have seen images where they have walked through heavy blankets of snow to give polio drops.”

PM Imran Khan said under the campaign, 40 million children under five years of age will be administered anti-polio drops by 260,000 polio staff.

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Earlier, Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza said polio remains a national emergency for us. He said this year 98 polio cases have been reported in the country, adding that 326 polio cases were reported in 2014 in the country and the figure was brought down to 12 last year.

Dr Zafar Mirza expressed commitment to completely remove the virus of polio from the country in the coming years.

It must be noted that the tally of polio cases across the country reached up to 98 this year.