Friday, March 29, 2024

PM Shehbaz convenes emergency session after first case of polio detected in 15 months

Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has called a meeting of the National Task Force on Polio Eradication for Monday after the country reported its first polio case in 15 months.

Premier Shehbaz Sharif expressed alarm at the reappearance in the country after an absence of 15 months and convened an emergency conference on polio eradication on April 25, according to the latest available information.

A report from the relevant authorities was requested, and the premier also commanded that a strategy to remove the devastating sickness from the country be developed by those in charge.

Dr. Shahzad Baig, the NEOC Coordinator, revealed on Friday that a poliovirus case has been identified in Pakistan after 15 months, making it the third polio case reported in the world in 2022.

The national polio laboratory in Pakistan has confirmed that the new polio case was discovered in North Waziristan, whereas the last poliovirus case was recorded on January 27, 2021, in Killa Abdullah, Balochistan, according to the laboratory.

Positive environmental samples from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had been collected earlier in the month, and this had also been validated by the polio laboratory.

Special campaigns are being organized by the government on an emergency basis in order to eradicate the poliovirus totally.

Read Also: A policeman shot dead a civilian for refusing to give polio vaccine to his children

As the Coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) for the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program, Dr. Shahzad Baig urged parents to provide anti-polio drops to their children as part of the country’s efforts to eradicate the disease.

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