Islamabad, May 31: Amid more sewage samples testing positive for the poliovirus, Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program chief Dr Shahzad Baig has “resigned” from the office due to “failure” in containing the spread of the crippling virus.
ARY News, citing health ministry sources, said Dr Shahzad Baig was asked to “quit” as he failed to contain the spread of polio virus being the head of the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program.
Shahzad Baig was appointed as the head of the anti-polio program during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s tenure and the incumbent government of Shehbaz Sharif was “not happy” with his performance.
Baig has forwarded his resignation to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and is to be replaced with a bureaucrat.
His resignation comes as Pakistan has reported three cases of poliovirus in 2024 so far, while 153 sewage samples also tested positive for the poliovirus.
Poliomyelitis has been eradicated in all countries except Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On Thursday, the National Polio Testing Laboratory released a report on sewage samples from five districts, confirming the presence of poliovirus.
The virus was found in sewage samples from Karachi, Quetta and Kohat. This year, 153 out of 39 districts’ sewage samples have tested positive for poliovirus.
The sampling for polio testing was conducted from May 9 to 15 in five districts. Karachi East’s Rashid Minhas Road and Machhar Colony sewage samples tested positive for poliovirus, sources said.
The third polio case of 2024 reported in Pakistan was of a minor girl from Kila Abdullah who was diagnosed with the virus.
The girl, from Balochistan’s Kila Abdullah, showed symptoms of paralysis on April 20. The health ministry said that genetic testing of the affected girl’s samples is still underway.
All of the three cases reported this year are from Balochistan.
