ISLAMABAD, July 17: As 12 polio cases have so far been reported from Fata this year, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) has sent a note of caution to the federal government.

In an in-camera briefing arranged by the federal government on Tuesday the officials explained that the hub of the polio cases in Fata was Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency and North Waziristan.

The briefing was also attended by legislators of Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The EPI cell was launched by the government in 1978 which aims at vaccinating the children against tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, and also their mothers against tetanus.

The officials said Khyber Agency reported eight and North Waziristan two polio cases so far in 2013 and during the last one month alone two cases came to surface.

“If current situation in Fata is not controlled, a large number of polio cases are expected in next months,” an official of EPI was quoted as saying during the briefing by one of the attendants of the meeting.

The officials proposed that legislators of Fata and local political elders should convince the people at community level of vaccinating their children against polio.

“We believe if continuous immunisation drives are run in affected areas it may bear positive results like limiting the spread of polio virus in the Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” maintained the official.

He said that it was also needed to convey to the local people in Fata that once a child contracted polio virus he/she would be afflicted by life-long disability.

The official, who was part of the briefing held in Islamabad, maintained that participants were informed by the EPI officials that Peshawar had the highest rate of poliovirus detection in sewage water.

More than three-fourth of the cases this year, are linked to polioviruses presence in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa especially in Peshawar, the official added.

He said that it was briefed by the EPI that so far 19 polio cases had been reported in Pakistan while most of them were from FATA and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

“Even the refusal rate was a cause of concern for the officials and legislators present in the meeting,” asserted the official.

When approached a participant of the meeting PPP Senator Rubina Khalid told Dawn: “Polio cases are on the rise but the federal government is yet to take the matter seriously.”

She said that they were briefed during the meeting: “Pushtun people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have serious issues with polio vaccination since they believe that it leads to infertility.

“The government should address this issue immediately otherwise the number of polio cases would go up and Pakistan will be in a difficult position,” maintained senator Rubina.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the only countries where the crippling polio virus still persists.

Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar also showed her concern over the rising number of cases of polio in Fata and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

“Our children continue to fall prey of misconceptions and negative propaganda spread by the elements who have little understanding about the virus and their crippling effects on their own children,” she said in the meeting.