QUETTA: More than 4,000 parents have refused to administer polio drops to their children in Quetta Block, which comprises Quetta, Pishin and Qilla Abdullah districts of northern Balochistan, Coordinator Balochistan Emergency Cell Dr Syed Saifur Rehman said.
At least four polio cases were reported from Balochistan this year, three of which came from the Quetta Block. Officials have termed parents’ refusal to administer polio drops to their children as the major underlying cause behind the aforementioned cases. Lately, polio volunteers have faced difficulties in administering the vaccine to children in various parts of the Quetta Block as a number of parents have been resisting the campaign.
Most refusals have been reported from the outskirts of Quetta. These areas include Pashtoonabad, Kharotabad and Nawan Killi, areas that mostly house Afghan refugees.
“We have traced out the refusal cases and are trying to convince the parents,” Dr Rehman said. The Balochistan government has formed refusal coverage committees to cajole the parents into allowing polio vaccines to the children below the age of five years. The deputy commissioner will head the committees and religious scholars will be appointed as members to persuade parents not to resist polio vaccination to their children.
According to officials, more than 50 per cent of polio cases are the result of parents’ refusals to administer vaccines to their children in the province. Lack of commitment, negligence on part of quarters concerned and attacks targeting polio workers are some other reasons that have contributed to the re-emergence of polio in Balochistan. “No polio case would be tolerated in any part of Balochistan,” Dr Rehman said. Secretary Health Balochistan Noorul Haq Baloch has taken notice of recent polio cases in Quetta’s Pashtoonabad area and has ordered departmental action against the district health officer along with issuance of show-cause notices to other officials concerned.
The provincial government has decided to approach every individual parent resisting the vaccination campaign to try and convince them with regard to the crippling disease. Government officials as well as religious scholars would play their role in the eradication of polio virus, Dr Rehman said.
