PTI leader Ejaz Chaudhary said polio is a national tragedy but government was not serious to eliminate the crippling disease as the samples for poliovirus, collected from Multan Road drainage in Lahore, have been found positive, which posed a threat of transmission and recurrence of the crippling disease in Punjab. This is nothing short of a national disaster and no sane element in the government is worried about this calamity, as they are busy building Metro Buses and Metro Trains he added. He said positive poliovirus samples means that threat of a polio case was very much imminent in the province. But unfortunately health is not a priority of Punjab Government he added.
PTI leader Yasmin Rashid said the presence of the poliovirus in the sewerage water has raised questions on the quality of routine immunization coverage in Lahore. The fresh sampling showed that a large number of children was not getting vaccination during the last many anti-polio drives she added. She said the genetic sequencing of a poliovirus played a decisive role to stop its further spread by reaching the target population she added. She said due to floods where festering sewage has leaked in the poliovirus it could infect more children.
PTI Information Secretary Andleeb Abbas said how unfortunate it is for Pakistan that Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic but still no sincere efforts has been made to eradicate the disease. The health ministry did not learn any lesson even after World Health Organisation (WHO) imposed strict travel restrictions on the country that tarnished Pakistan???s image in the entire world she added. She said the current ruling elite is only interested in looting public money and then leave the country, as they do not care about the future of the innocent children. Instead of spending on Metros, highways and roads PMLN Government needs to spend on health and education she added.
Media Cell
PTI Punjab