Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said here on Wednesday that the government was taking all measures to completely curb polio from Pakistan, and sought co-operation of the provinces and national and international agencies in this regard.
Welcoming the participants at the inaugural meeting of the National Task Force on Polio Eradication in the Prime Minister Secretariat, he said that elimination of the disease has been one of the top priorities of the government since the days of Benazir Bhutto.
The inaugural meeting was attended by KP Governor Masood Kausar, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, KP Chief Minister mir Haider Hoti, parliamentarians, representatives of the international agencies and officers of federal and provincial governments.
The Prime Minister said that the President, too, had launched an emergency plan to eradicate polio from Pakistan. Referring to the meeting held on January 14 to oversee the steps taken to eradicate polio and the establishment of the National Task Force on Polio Eradication, he said that despite increase in the members of the National Task Force, there were reports of occurrence of polio cases in a few provinces, which reflected poor performance.
The Prime Minister recalled that in the meeting of January, the National Polio Emergency Plan 2011 was approved and it was collectively resolved to combat and wipe out polio from the country.
He said the prime objective was to give future generations a polio-free Pakistan. Among other things, the plan envisaged monitoring by National Polio Monitoring Cell established at the Prime Minister Secretariat, where he had requested all chief ministers to personally take ownership and to regularly monitor the progress of the implementation of the plan.
The Prime Minister said that he had further requested all chief ministers, through his letter dated February 25, to advise all Chief Secretaries and Deputy Commissioners, Political Agents, and District Co-ordination Officers to take personal charge of the implementation in the areas of their jurisdiction.
He directed the district management to leave no stone unturned in reaching out to every child under five years of age as per Emergency Plan across the length and breadth of the country.
The Prime Minister also urged all parents to ensure that their children receive the polio vaccine during the forthcoming campaigns. He also sought generous support of international partners in this regard.
KP Governor said that despite civil-military co-ordination there were yet certain areas where militancy was hampering the polio campaign. He also mentioned the movement of Afghan refugees that was not helping in containing the disease.
Shahbaz Sharif assured to comply with the national commitment to control the disease. He said the provincial government was fully geared to check the disease throughout the province.
Amir Haider expressed dissatisfaction over the situation in the province for eradication of polio, and expressed hope that it would improve with more stringent measures. He said that efforts were underway to improve things at union and district council levels.
MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechohu from Sindh said the province was showing poor progress and every person needed to take full responsibility in addressing the issue and counter the disease. She stressed the need of more involvement of the leadership at the highest level in this regard.
Qaim said that situation had improved but more concerted efforts were required to implement the national policy on polio in letter and spirit.
Representative from Balochistan, Perveen Magsi, said that high number of polio cases was due to the inaccessible areas, both on account of security and communication and non-availability of roads. She called for moulding the socio-cultural atmosphere, and ensuring political commitment to overcome the crippling disease.
Health Secretary Nargis Sethi said that no case was identified in Punjab, while 12 cases were registered in Sindh, including four in Karachi and eight in interior Sindh. Three cases have been reported from KP, eleven from Balochistan, and 18 from FATA, while Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan were free of polio.
Representative of national chain for Rotary International said that Rs 1.1 billion have so far been spent on polio eradication and added that only one case each had been registered in India and Afghanistan, as compared to 44 in Pakistan, and more work needs to be done.