INAUGURATING anti polio vaccination drive in Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar stated that no polio case has been reported in the province over the last fourteen months, indicating clearly that the country is very close to eradicating the crippling virus as only one case of the polio virus was reported across the country last year.
Credit to the success definitely goes to none other than the hundreds of thousands of our frontline health workers who despite risks to their lives in certain areas demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to battle polio.
The entire nation will always remain indebted to their service which helped save our children from disability.
However, it is not time to be complacent or sit on the laurels.Although the finish line is visible, the job is far from over.
There is a reason for caution as the virus is still lurking around in the environment.The virus was found in some environmental samples and therefore the danger is not yet over.
We cannot let our guard down until the virus is killed on its turf.We are confident that both the federal and provincial governments will fulfil their responsibilities in this regard and spare no effort to make the ongoing and upcoming anti polio campaigns successful with the cooperation of different segments of the society especially the religious scholars.
After all this is the matter of the better future of our young souls.As four cases of polio were also reported in Afghanistan last year, we need to observe extra caution and ensure strict border control to avoid transfer of the virus through the long and porous Pak-Afghan border crossings.
As there is no war in Afghanistan and Taliban has also promised to support polio immunization campaigns, the UN Agencies must come forward and help the Afghan setup in the fight against the virus.
Through collective efforts, we can completely weed out the virus.At the same time, our government must also pay special focus on the prevention of other major diseases such as hepatitis and tuberculosis which continue to afflict our population.
