- It is second constructive pattern detected in Rawalpindi this 12 months: minister.
- “Pakistan has some of the developed polio surveillance programs.”
- Interim govt is specializing in high-risk areas, says Dr Naedeem Jan.
Newly-appointed interim Well being Minister Dr Nadeem Jan on Wednesday confirmed that an environmental pattern collected from Rawalpindi has returned constructive, smashing hopes of a polio-free state by the tip of 2023.
In view of the efficient measures taken by Islamabad, the United Nations Youngsters’s Fund’s (Unicef) Regional Director for South Asia, final 12 months in December, hoped that the crippling illness will probably be eradicated from the nation by the tip of 2023.
Speaking to journalists, the caretaker well being minister stated that it was the second constructive pattern detected within the metropolis in the course of the present 12 months. In July, an environmental pattern collected from Sarai Kullah had returned constructive.
Hailing the companies of polio staff and officers, he stated that Pakistan has some of the developed polio surveillance programs on the earth.
The interim authorities is specializing in high-risk areas, Jan stated, including that they’ve devised a complete technique to eradicate the crippling virus from the nation.
Talking on the event, he sought dad and mom’ cooperation within the battle towards polio.
12 months’s first polio case
In March 2023, a three-year-old boy examined constructive for the crippling illness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), making it the primary polio case of the 12 months 2023 within the nation. The boy is a resident of Ghora Bakka Khel in Bannu.
In August, wild poliovirus as soon as once more took a toll, crippling a three-year-old boy for all times in Bannu as the federal government struggles to brush the virus in another country.
Following the detection of the nation’s second polio case in Bannu, Kind-1 Wild Poliovirus was discovered within the environmental samples collected from Peshawar and Taxila City of Rawalpindi district, stated, the Nationwide Institute of Youngster Well being (NIH) Islamabad.
“Pakistan’s Nationwide Polio Laboratory on the NIH Islamabad has confirmed the detection of Kind-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) in two environmental (sewage) samples collected from Peshawar and Rawalpindi, in July 2023. That is the sixth constructive pattern from Peshawar and the primary constructive pattern from Rawalpindi this 12 months”, stated an official of the NIH Islamabad.