Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) coordinator has hoped that poliovirus would be eliminated from the country by the end of this year.

With declining cases of polio in Pakistan in previous years, EOC declared Sindh province ‘environmentally polio free’ on the basis of April 2016 environmental samples.

Last week, Head of the National Emergency Operation Centre, Dr Rana Safdar, declared that for the first time in the history, all the environmental samples for polio resulted negative.

A total of 40 samples, collected under the supervision of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in mid-April from 14 cities, were analysed at the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Following the move, Sindh EOC Chairperson Dr Azra Pechuho said on Thursday that Sindh is now environmentally polio free, last samples were negative, which is an encouraging trend but it needs to be maintained.

Dr Azra said, “We are hoping December is the end game for polio virus.” She said this during a high level meeting on polio to review performances of the anti-polio campaigns in Sindh.

A high level meeting on polio chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Siddique Memon was held at Sindh Secretariat also participated by Dr Azra Pechuho and Shahnaz Wazir Ali. The meeting reviewed the anti-polio campaign from March to May in Sindh.

Sindh health secretary, Commissioner Karachi, Syed Asif Hyder Shah, Sindh EOC Coordinator Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar, polio team leaders from UNICEF and WHO, EOC Technical Consultant Dr Altaf Bossan, EOC Technical Focal Person for Sindh, Dr Ahmad Ali Shaikh, EPI Project Director Dr Agha Ashfaq, deputy commissioners of Karachi and commissioners from Sindh districts and Zonal Coordinator Rotary, Masood Bhali, were also present.

Sindh Chief Secretary Siddique Memon said, “We are at the threshold of finishing off polio from our country.”

Dr Azra Afzal Pechuho said the last campaign was carried out effectively despite the hot weather. She said, “We are hoping that December would be the closing month. She said Sindh is now environmentally polio free, last samples were negative, which is an encouraging trend and all it needs is to maintain it.

Provincial Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Coordinator Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar said that in 2015, there were 25 polio cases in Pakistan and this year there number is 11 so far adding that in April 2016, all environmental samples are negative which is encouraging but we need to be careful.

He said there is a tremendous improvement in terms of security to polio team while functioning of DPCRs is much improved but there is room for more improvement. He said divisional task forces have already been established in Sukkur and Larkana.

He said high number of missed children have been covered in Jacobabad. He further said successful campaigns of IPV had been conducted in high risk UCs of Karachi and OPV campaigns had shown significant improvement with the new strategies being applied.

Usman Chachar said the important meeting of the technical advisory group and international monitoring board is around the corner and we expect a focus on Sindh. He suggested that taskforces should be formed at divisional level. He stressed the need of posting of DHOs who are dedicated to polio eradication especially in Karachi and North Sindh.

The Commissioner Karachi, Syed Asif Hyder Shah, said, “We have overcome the security issues and it is not holding us back.” We do not have staggered campaigns anymore but instead all districts are targeted together, he added.

There were 54 poliovirus cases reported in Pakistan last year. However, in 2016, 11 cases were reported in Pakistan. Sindh stands second with four cases after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with six cases.