Another polio case in Quetta detected

Quetta: Another polio case was detected in a 12-month-old baby in the provincial capital.

Dr Ishaq Panezai of Balochistan’s health department said the virus was found in 12-month-old Gul Muhammad, born to a family residing in Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area.

Panezai said Gul Muhammad’s family did not have the polio drops administered to the child which now appeared in the child being affected with the virus.

Eastern Bypass is home to a large number of Afghan refugees where a polio team attacked in the area a couple of years back. It was yet to be ascertained whether the baby was born in a family of local residents or among the refugees from Afghanistan.

According to sources in the health department, refusal on part of some families to have their children administered with the polio vaccine was a major challenge for the authorities.