Bill Gates lauds KP govt’s anti-polio efforts

ISLAMABAD: Just hours after the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took the bold step of arresting 471 parents for refusing administration of polio drops to their children, Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates made telephonic contact with Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan and lauded the efforts of the provincial government against the crippling Poliovirus.
Imran Khan told Bill Gates that despite his political differences with the federal government, he had decided to enter into collaboration with it regarding the campaign, Sehat Ka Ittehad, as the initiative was aimed at securing the future generations of the country.
“In January 2015, a delegation of technical experts told me that unless there is a massive joint campaign in KP and Fata, it would be very difficult to eradicate Polio from Pakistan due to continuous movement of population to and from Fata to KP,” the source quoted Imran Khan as saying.
Khan told Bill Gates how pleased he was over the excellent support provided to ‘Sehat Ka Ittehad’ teams by Pakistan Army, KP Police, and other law-enforcement agencies. No major security incident targeting the teams involved in implementation of the initiative has taken place so far.
Bill Gates is said to have lauded the efforts of PTI Secretary General, Jehangir Khan Tareen and Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai for conceiving ‘Sehat Ka Ittehad’.He also shared fears as Pakistan could end up becoming the world’s last country with poliovirus.He termed Sehat Ka Ittehad “a ray of hope” for the Pakistani children.