Islamabad:
The Federal Minister of Health Mustafa Kamal recognized Tuesday the persistent presence of poliovirus in the country’s environment and urged the public to counter false ideas surrounding the disease and its vaccine.
Responding to a notice of attention to the Senate concerning the ongoing anti-political campaign, the minister informed the upper chamber that the virus was still actively circulating in the country.
“Our environment continues to welcome poliovirus,” said Kamal. “Unfortunately, the false perceptions on the polio have taken a deep root in the minds of people, and I don’t know why.”
However, he said that he had explicitly prohibited the authorities from arresting parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. “I stopped the practice of the use of the police to arrest parents for not administering drops of polio,” he added.
The Minister stressed that despite the challenges, vaccination against polio was underway even in neighboring Afghanistan.
“With the exception of Kandahar, all the Afghan provinces execute anti-political readers,” he said.
Referring to the situation in Balutchistan, Kamal said that he had personally visited the province to supervise the efforts against polio.
“This year, we reported 14 cases of polio,” he said, adding that most of the cases were emerged from Bannu and other inaccessible regions.
“When we could not reach, cases have increased,” he said.
He also underlined a persistent negative propaganda campaign against polio vaccine as one of the obstacles of the fight to eradicate the virus.
Kamal revealed that the environmental samples of districts across the country are tested positive for polio.
“This confirms that the virus remains present in our environment,” he said.
“Only children who receive drops of polio are protected.”
The Minister said the government was determined to eradicate polio and called for public support to overcome disinformation and logistics barriers.
