Experts call for efforts to remove fallacies attached to polio vaccination

PESHAWAR: Expressing concern over the prevalence of frequent polio cases in Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai underlined the need for creating awareness among the people and remove the misconception about vaccination to rid the country of this crippling, but preventable disease.

They were speaking at the 24th Biennial Central Convention organised by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) at the Peshawar Medical College (PMC) here Saturday. It was titled “Polio Eradication: A Public Health Challenge”.

Apart from Pakistan, health experts from Malaysia and Jordan were also invited to the convention. They delivered lectures on major health issues, particularly on polio and other vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs).

Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra attended the event as chief guest. He said if Pakistan can become the world’s 7th nuclear power, there should be no doubt it can also overcome poliovirus. He  also suggested that medical ethics should be included as a subject in syllabus and taught to students in medical and dental colleges.

Health Minister Shahram Khan spoke about the efforts his government initiated for eradication of polio and to provide better health services to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the whole world was focusing on Pakistan, as unfortunately Pakistan and Afghanistan had remained the only two countries where poliovirus still existed.

Shahram Tarakai said he had accepted polio eradication as a challenge and directed his department and polio team leaders to utilise services of community leaders, religious scholars and other useful citizens of the society to reach every child and eradicate the disease from Pakistan.

About health reforms, the minister said, the government had granted true financial and administrative autonomy to tertiary care hospitals to independently make decisions. Health expert and WHO representative, Dr Zubair Mufti said it was same polio vaccine that eradicated poliovirus from 23 countries in the world.

He said there used to 20, 000 cases when the vaccination programme was launched in Pakistan in 1994. He said 2013, 2014 and 2015 were the worst years in terms of polio cases, saying Pakistan alone reported 306 cases in 2015 and 90 per cent of the cases were from Fata and KP.

The WHO representative said 16000 children are still out of reach, mostly in North Waziristan, Khyber Agency, etc, that he termed a major threat to the programme and future of children.A paediatrician from Malaysia, Dr Musa Nooruddin said 40 per cent deaths of children occurred in the Muslim world, which can easily be averted through vaccination.

He said there are 27 vaccines worldwide to protect people from communicable diseases. He said 426 million polio cases were averted between 20111-2020 through vaccination.Prof Tanveerul Hassan Zubairi said smallpox had claimed 500 million lives in the world but successfully eradicated through vaccination in 1970. He said one polio case costs $2.5 million (Rs250 million) to the world.

Religious scholar, Mufti Ghulamur Rahman termed polio vaccine as per Islamic Sharia.He said polio workers didn’t face any security issues before 2010. He said the vaccination programme was made suspicious after the American CIA used Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi for spying purposes in Abbottabad in 2012 to reach Osama bin Laden.

Other scholars such as Prof Anees Ahmad, Prof Shoaib Shafi, Prof Sohail Akhtar, and praised the efforts of PIMA and Prof Dr Najeebul Haq, principal PMC, and his team for organising the event.