40 polio cases in NWFP, Health Minister confirms

NWFP Minister for Health Syed Zahir Ali Shah Saturday urged the religious scholars and general public to support the NWFP government in eliminating polio from NWFP. Speaking at a press conference here at the press club, Zahir said the government is fully committed to eradicate polio. He said a three-day anti-polio drive would kick off from November 24 across the province, adding people should come forward and get their children immunised. The minister said eradicating polio was the need of the hour and people should cooperate with the government and health organizations to help get rid of the disease. Zahir said 102 polio cases had been found among children below five years across the country during the current year, adding 40 of them were reported from NWFP. According to health officials, 17 polio cases were reported from Peshawar, four each in Swat, Bajaur and Khyber, three in Mohmand Agency, two each in Nowshera, Kohat and Dir and one each in Charsadda and Batagram districts. The minister said he would personally visit different areas to oversee the anti-polio drive and ensure that the health teams are reaching every part of the city to administer drops to children below five years of age. The total number of below five years children in NWFP is 5.508m. The health officials have formed 14,909 teams in NWFP to administer polio drops to children. Director General NWFP Health Services Dr Sajid Shaheen, representative of World Health Organisation Dr Abdul Jabbar and other health officials were also present on the occasion.