ISLAMABAD: Health Coordinator Mukhtar Ahmad visited the National Emergency Operations Centre on Tuesday for a meeting regarding polio cases in the country.
“Serious emergency measures are being taken to eliminate polio,” said Ahmad, in a meeting he chaired regarding the challenges that the disease presents as well as matters related to the polio campaign.
The anti-polio campaign in September resulted in approximately 33 million children being vaccinated according to the briefing.
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Ahmad also stated that Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Karachi Division, Quetta, and Peshawar are all hotspots for the disease. Due to the presence of polio, he emphasized the necessity to improve performance across 67 districts in the country.
On Saturday, the 24th case of the year was reported from the Hyderabad district in Sindh according to the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC). It was a 29-month old child who was vaccinated twice, first on September 11 and then again on September 19.
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Balochistan has recorded the most polio cases in the country in 2024, with 15 so far. Sindh has recorded five and KP has reported two, while both Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) have reported one, as per a lab official from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health.