Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication. Babar Atta Saturday confirmed that a fresh polio case has been confirmed in Bajaur tribal district. According to reports, he said that polio virus has affected an 11 month child in Bajaur district. He said that it was sixth case of polio in Bajaur during last three months and first of the 2019. He said that seven anti-polio vaccinators have been terminated from their services over negligence.
In a tweet, he said, "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. Bajaur, like many other districts did nothing the whole year 2017/18 but celebrate that they had "zero" polio case."
Atta stated that in the past three months, six cases of polio virus have been reported from Bajaur. He said that due to the negligence demonstrated by the polio eradication team in the district, seven polio workers were expelled last week as last year there had been no reports of poliovirus from tribal district.
He added that his next target would be to monitor the performance of polio eradication teams in Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi as traces of poliovirus have been found in the sewage water in Lahore and Faisalabad.
The polio eradication campaign in Pakistan has faced many challenges, from the refusal of parents to administer the drops to attacks on polio teams by militants.
Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious debilitating virus that targets the nervous system of children, causing partial or complete paralysis of their limbs. Since 1988, reported polio cases worldwide have declined by more than 99 per cent, but the virus remains endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.