Restrictions imposed on Pakistanis travelling abroad sans official Polio Certificate

Geneva: Restrictions were imposed on Pakistanis travelling to other countries without an official Polio certificate during a meeting of the International Health Committee held in Geneva.

Based on recent statistics, Pakistan was declared as a country responsible for spreading Polio worldwide, and was also held responsible for the 3 Polio cases reported in Afghanistan since July 2014.  It is made compulsory for every single Pakistani travelling to any country abroad to present his/her official Polio Certificate; failure to comply will result in travelling restrictions.

The International Health Committee, in an attempt to eliminate Polio virus from the country within a span of six months has imposed this rule with immediate implementation. A traveler is only entitled to the Polio Certificate if he/she has received Polio immunization drops from a registered medical official.

A 3 day campaign to eradicate Polio was recently organized in Karachi, Sindh but the teams experienced various shortcomings in the form of security issues, delays and lack of provisions. 600 teams were deployed for the purpose of administering immunization drop to children in 11 Union Councils. Despite the efforts of the authorities, new Polio cases are frequently being reported in Pakistan, which is an alarming fact considering that Pakistan is now one of the only three countries in the world that have failed to permanently eradicate Polio.