The first polio case of the year in Kohat has been confirmed, raising questions about the performance of health department, polio teams and the district administration.
“The polio disease in three and a half years old Shazia has been confirmed on Monday by the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, to the local administration in a letter Polio-PRL/1-12-554,” said an official.
Dawn learnt officially from the World Health Organisation’s Kohat office that the girl had been affected with polio and the result of her younger brother Adil’s test report would be received soon.
Last year, a case was detected in Bostikhel area of Darra Adamkhel, a nearby semi-tribal area, and now the first case of 2012 had been confirmed in area of Kohat, hardly a kilometre away from the city centre.
Father of Shazia, Wazir Khan, who belonged to Kurram Agency and is residing with his family from last one decade in Mangal Bibi area, Urban-5 Kohat, claimed that no polio team had visited their area during last several years.
It was learnt that Mr Wazir had told the authorities concerned that his son’s test had also been sent to the NIH laboratory and the result was awaited.
The WHO official, requesting anonymity, also said that the administration of a government school in Cantt area had not allowed the teams to administer polio drops to the children during last four campaigns. He said that the matter had been brought to the notice of district administration, which was in contact with the school administration on the issue.
A former WHO official said that the detection of a case in Kohat reflected the lack of seriousness of the health department, polio teams and the administration, which had been spending millions of rupees on holding workshops, seminars, campaigns etc.
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