Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has warned that parents refusing polio vaccination for their children could face drastic penalties, including blocking of mobile phone SIMs and suspension of their national identity cards and passports, for endangering not only their own children but also others by exposing them to the crippling disease.
“I have no other option but to penalise those who shirk their national duty of eradicating polio, a responsibility that begins at home and impacts the entire province and country,” he said while presiding over a meeting on polio eradication at CM House on Friday.
Murad Ali Shah announced the establishment of a Polio Vaccine Refusal Cell at the CM House. The cell will receive union council-wise details of parents refusing vaccination so they can be persuaded or compelled through social, political, and administrative means. He also directed the Health Department to prepare a comprehensive plan and warned officials that negligence would not be tolerated. “Any officer not showing performance will no longer be part of my team. I have already removed some, and more will go if lapses continue,” he said.
The CM expressed regret that despite extensive campaigns, polio cases continue to be reported. Two fresh cases emerged last week, bringing Sindh’s tally to nine out of the 29 cases reported nationwide this year. Of these, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 18, while Punjab and Azad Jammu & Kashmir have one each. The Sindh cases were reported from Thatta, Badin, Mithi, Umerkot, Hyderabad, Qambar, Larkana, Karachi and Malir. Most were linked to refusals or children being absent during campaigns.
The meeting was informed that environmental samples continue to show poliovirus presence in multiple areas of Karachi, including Sohrab Goth, Orangi, Mosquito Colony, Rashid Minhas, Hijrat Colony and Korangi Nala. “Refusal of polio drops is absolutely unacceptable. Such negligence cripples children for life and spreads the virus to others,” the CM said, directing strict action against refusal cases.
He further instructed that nomadic families, particularly in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions, must be covered during the October 13 campaign, which he said must be conducted with a “war-like approach.” In the September campaign alone, 216,664 children missed the vaccine, including over 35,000 whose parents refused.
The CM ordered the activation of the Refusal Conversion Committee (RCC) to immediately follow up on refusals after campaigns. He also directed Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah to prepare a plan for blocking mobile SIMs and suspending CNICs and passports of those repeatedly refusing.
Senior officials including Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, IG Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, and senior health administrators attended the meeting.
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