Second polio case of year-2019 surfaced in KP

ISLAMABAD: The prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication Babar Bin Atta on Thursday 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.

He said in a tweet, “Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 2nd Confirmed Polio Case of 2019. The Child is 2 yrs old. Bannu is one of many districts with clusters of “Parental Refusals”. Bannu has also been reporting presence of virus in the Sewage.”

اب سے کچھ دیر قبل اسلام آباد میں واقع قومی ادارہ صحت پولیو لیبارٹری نے بنوں کے دو سالہ بچے میں پولیو وائرس کی تصدیق کردی ہے۔ ضلع بنوں کا شمار ان اضلاع میں ہوتا ہے جہاں والدین ٹولیوں کی صورت میں بچے کو قطرے پلانے سے انکار کرتے ہیں۔ ملک میں رواں سال پولیو کیسز کی تعداد 2 ہو گئی –

— Babar Atta (@babarbinatta) February 7, 2019

Babar Bin Atta further said that he had asked the ‘Provincial Polio Emergency Operations Center’ in KP to mobilize rapid assessment team to Bannu to evaluate reasons and to plan effective case response to protect more children.

On the occasion, the focal person underscored the importance of immunization for polio eradication.

Earlier, the first polio case of the year 2019 had been reported from Bajour district on February 2, according to Focal Person to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Polio Eradication Babar Atta.

“Sad News: The ongoing active virus circulation in Bajour Tribal District has paralysed yet another child as Pakistan reports its 1st polio case of 2019 from Khar. The child is 11 months old. Bajour has now reported 6 polio cases alone during the last 3 months,” he tweeted.

“This also justifies the action I took last week during my visit to Bajour Agency by removing 7 Polio officers for showing negligence towards their duties. Bajour, like many other districts did nothing the whole year 2017/18 but celebrate that they had “zero” polio case.”