A fresh case of polio was confirmed in Quetta Thursday, with health officials claiming that the victim’s father had refused to get his child vaccinated during anti-polio campaigns.
Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, Coordinator Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Balochistan, confirmed that two-year-old Rab Nawaz Noorzai, resident of Noorzai Colony in Quetta’s Eastern Bypass area, tested positive for the virus.
“The child was never vaccinated since his father had refused the drops.” Officials say the father used to hide the child when vaccination teams visited their house.
“The negligence of parents led to the child being paralysed for life,” Rehman said.
“We have been successful in bringing down the number of refusals and the situation has significantly improved compared to the previous year,” he added.
The latest polio case is the fifth in the provincial capital and the seventh in the province this year.
This is also the second case in which, according to health officials, discovery of the virus in a victim was confirmed after parents’ refusal to administer the polio vaccine to their child.
The first case of a child testing positive after their parents’ rejection of the vaccine was five-year-old Shadizai – also from Quetta.
