Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has made responsible to Private Clinics and Health Providers to report the polio cases in the province and directed the Health Care Commission KP to take steps in this regard.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Secretary Abid Majeed in a notification directed the HCC to take steps that all the private hospitals in the province should give report on the polio cases.

The letter which sends to the HCC a copy of which is available with Daily Times said that Polio eradication is declared national emergency program run under the National Emergency Action Plane 2016-17.

The National Task Force for Polio is headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan; Provincial Task Forces are led by provincial chief secretaries while district polio eradication committees are formed under deputy commissioners.

The letter further said that the program has achieved tremendous success during 2016 by reporting 65% leass polio cases in the country as compared to 2015 while 95 % cases less than in 2014.

The report further added that during a recent review of the program it was revealed that reporting of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases are on the decline in majority districts of KP, Particularly in Malakand and Hazara division. It said that AFP is key to track polio virus while the provincial government has already declared AFP notable disease. The letter said that all private sector health facilities and health care providers are directed to report the polio cases while the HCC will monitor them.

It is pertinent to mention here that the province has recorded 50 percent decline in reporting of polio cases as compared to last year.