Islamabad, 24 November 2021 (GNP): Today, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad Hamza Shafqat attended a collaborative workshop of the World Health Organization (WHO) & MAROOF International Hospital Islamabad.
Dr. Amna Amjad Area Coordinator Islamabad Polio Eradication Program gave a presentation about the Surveillance of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) to the consultants from different departments of Maroof International Hospital.
During the proceedings, the DC visited Maroof’s heart center, which has been its focus this year with the recruitment of foreign qualified consultants in interventional cardiology & cardiac surgery as well as two Cath labs equipped for a full spectrum of interventional & structural procedures.
Talking about Polio Eradication, Ch. Haroon Naseer, the CEO of Maroof International Hospital stated that Pakistan is one of those two remaining countries in the world where polio is still detected.
Therefore, Maroof International Hospital has been working closely with WHO, District Government and Global partners for pieces of training and awareness sessions in an effort to reach total eradication of polio.
The DC acknowledged the efforts of WHO, Maroof International Hospital and the Government of Pakistan for working hard on polio eradication. He emphasized that Afghanistan still has three reported polio cases. Hence we need to be more active in vaccinating & reporting cases.
In the end Ch. Haroon Naseer thanked the DC, his team and WHO for taking time out to be partners in such an important and much-needed campaign and said that Maroof International offers all its support to WHO & the public sector and hopes that Pakistan will see total eradication of polio very soon.
In Pakistan, as per the documentation, there has been only 1 case as of 22 October 2021. In the previous year, there were 84 cases in the country.