Lahore: Amidst the Government’s regular, supposedly ‘successful’ anti-Polio campaigns, four new cases of the crippling disease were recorded in the country, taking the total to a staggering 266 this year alone.
Two of these cases were reported from FATA, one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Baluchistan. It is pertinent to mention that on the 26th of November, four members of a Polio immunization team were gunned down while three were seriously injured in Quetta. Even though the provincial Governments maintain that they are making all efforts to immunize children in Pakistan against the disease, members of anti-Polio teams reveal the exact opposite. Immunization squads have been frequently facing lack of provisions and security on their missions – they are openly threatened and targeted on their missions.
On the other hand, Afghanistan and Nigeria, that happen to be the only other countries apart from Pakistan where Polio still exists, have shown a significant decline in Polio cases. After crossing 200 cases this year, Pakistan broke its own record and new cases continue to emerge each day.