A five-day nationwide immunization drive against polio, the third of this year, began on Monday under which children under the five years of age will be vaccinated against this crippling disease.
This has come at a very critical and testing time given the fact that several areas of the country are inaccessible because of flash floods.
Hence greater responsibility rests with the federal and provincial governments to fully facilitate the polio workers reach every child.
The success of this drive is also important in view of the recent resurgence seen in the cases of polio.
After staying polio free for almost fifteen months, the country reported a polio case in April and so far about fourteen cases have been detected, thirteen of them in North Waziristan.
There is no room for complacency at all as it is the matter of the future of our young souls.
In the current situation, the help of defence forces can also be sought to administer anti-polio drops to the children of flood affected families. Similarly, it must also be ensured that no child is left out in the tribal districts.
This disease has become a stigma for our country and time has come that all segments of the society play their role in its complete eradication.
A team of senior doctors and medical science experts with the support of healthcare have recently launched a very important project to reach out to a million people mainly in rural areas to screen diabetic patients.
Whilst we really appreciate the endeavour of private practitioners against this horrifying disease which is killing thousands of people annually due to renal failure and other complications, we will also ask others in this field to volunteer their efforts for the cause of polio eradication as well as against other major diseases.
Eradicating polio appears to be a far cry but we can collectively do it.
The success registered by our country against Covid-19 is before everybody and with the same spirit and hard work, we can also eradicate polio.
For this, the authorities concerned should double their efforts and also launch awareness campaigns in order to sensitize the people about the efficacy of anti-polio drops for their children.
