More than 4,000 parents have refused to allow health authorities to administer polio drops to their children in the Quetta block that comprises Quetta, Pishin and Killa Abdullah districts of northern Balochistan, Dawn News reported on Saturday.
Balochistan Emergency Cell Coordinator Dr Syed Saifur Rehman told the news channel that at least four polio cases had been reported from Balochistan this year, three of which came from the Quetta block. Officials termed parents’ refusal to administer polio drops as the underlying cause behind the aforementioned cases.
Lately, polio volunteers have faced difficulties in administering the vaccine to children in various parts of the Quetta block as a number of parents have been resisting the campaign.
Most refusals have been reported from the outskirts of Quetta. These areas include Pashtoonabad, Kharotabad, Nawan Killi and others that mostly house Afghan refugees.
According to the channel, the Balochistan government has formed refusal coverage committees to convince the parents into allowing polio vaccines to be administered to children below the age of five years. The deputy commissioner will head the committees and religious scholars will be appointed as members of the committees to persuade parents to not resist polio vaccination for their children.