Islamabad, April 22, 2022 (PPI-OT):Chairing a high-level meeting here today Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel called upon the concerned to focus their efforts on remaining bottlenecks and meeting the last remaining challenges in finishing the job of polio eradication in the country.

Pakistan has surmounted the most daunting of challenges and we are now well poised to stop transmission of the poliovirus said the Minister addressing the meeting that was attended by Secretary National Health Services Aamir Ashraf, Director General Health Dr. Rana Safdar, Coordinator Polio Program Dr. Shahzad Baig and heads of international partner agencies. Earlier Polio Emergency National Coordinator Dr. Shahzad Baig gave a detail briefing on the current status of Polio Eradication Program.

There has been major decline in polio cases. Coordinator said “last year only one polio was reported in the country. Our efforts must continue till reaching zero case.” The coordinator informed that due to the consistent efforts of the present government and support from international partners, Provincial Governments, Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, polio cases had been significantly reduced.

The minister said that “Even a single case of polio in the country should be taken seriously and no effort should be spared to ensure complete eradication of the disease from the entire country”. The meeting was informed that new case has been reported from North Waziristan after 15 months. This is the third case of wild polio to be recorded globally in 2022.

In 2020 the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 22 cases while no wild poliovirus cases were recorded in last year. The Minister appreciated the overall performance of the polio program. He also appreciated the role played by front line workers. He assured full support of federal government for the better and healthy future of Pakistan.

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