ISLAMABAD: Despite government’s claims that all-out efforts are being made to eradicate polio from the country, another case was reported on Wednesday from North Waziristan tribal district.

The tally of cases for the current year has reached 16.

During the last 15 days, eight polio cases have been reported which was the total number of cases reported in 2017 and two-thirds of the 12 cases reported last year.

The recent case has been reported from Zeraki Baadshah Kot village of Mirali UC, where a 42-month-old child was diagnosed with polio.

An official of the Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH), requesting anonymity, said that samples were collected on April 26 and it was confirmed that the child was paralysed due to poliovirus.

“According to the father, the child was suffering from a high-grade fever for two days and was taken to a dispensary in the village where she was administered an injection. Next morning, on April 26, the child was limping on her left leg,” he said.

Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Babar Bin Atta, while speaking to Dawn, confirmed that another child had been diagnosed with poliovirus.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan remains to be one of the two last countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio cases are still being reported.

So far this year, a total of 16 polio cases have been reported — six from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, five from tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three from Punjab, and two from Sindh.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019