‘Countrywide’ anti-polio campaign fails to reach Kurram district, halted in Balochistan

KURRAM/QUETTA: Yesterday (December 16), the government announced the launch of a nationwide anti-polio campaign aiming to eradicate the polio virus from Pakistan. However, the campaign failed to reach the violence-struck Kurram district in Parachinar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Balochistan province as well, the anti-polio campaign has been postponed for the second day.

KURRAM, PARACHINAR

One day into the ‘countrywide’ campaign, the Kurram district is left deprived since the region has been disconnected from the rest of the country for over two months, due to the resurgence of violence in the district.

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A grand Jirga, being held in Kohat, still hasn’t reached a resolution to the violence and to the lockdown of Kurram. The provincial government is supplying the medicines through chief minister’s helicopter and Edhi Foundation has started an air ambulance service for transporting the critically ill to Peshawar. But the region remains strictly off-limits to the anti-polio teams, which means that children in the three tehsils of the Kurram district will not have access to the vaccinations.

Kurram District Health Officer Dr Qaiser Bangash told HUM News that “the anti-polio campaign has been postponed due to bad conditions.” He said that the vaccination campaign will not be possible until conditions normalize.”

The campaign will start when the Parachinar-Tilman highway is opened and conditions return to normal. Dr Bangash said.

BALOCHISTAN

The anti-polio campaign has also been postponed in Balochistan, for the second time today, the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) told media on Tuesday morning.

“Anti-polio campaign in Balochistan will start from Wednesday, December 18 instead of today,” the EOC said.

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The anti-polio campaign was set to begin across Balochistan on December 16, along with rest of the country. However, yesterday the authorities said that the campaign was delayed by one day on the request of the provincial Home Department.

The home department had written a letter to the provincial health secretary to postpone the polio campaign by one day due to security concerns.

It is notable here that the Quetta Grand Health Alliance has also announced a boycott of the anti-polio campaign, in protest of the government’s decision to privatise the government hospitals in the province.