Sindh’s prime minister Murad Ali Shah warned about drastic action against parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against polyomyelitis, including the blockade of their mobile Sim cards and suspend their identity cards and national passports, said Associated Press of Pakistan.
“I have no choice but to penalize those who avoid their national duty to eradicate polyomyelitis, a responsibility that begins at home and affects the entire province and the country,” he said as he presided over a meeting on the eradication of polyomyelitis at home CM on Friday.
The main minister announced the establishment of a polio vaccine rejection cell dedicated in the CM House, which will receive data in the Board of the Union on cases of rejection. The cell, he said, will be responsible for addressing resistance through social, political and administrative measures.
Shah also ordered legal actions against families that reject the falls of polyomyelitis, emphasizing that the refusal was unacceptable since it endangered not only their own children but also to others by spreading the virus. He expressed regret that despite years of effort, polio cases continue to emerge in Sindh. Only in the last week, two new cases were reported, which led the provincial total to nine.
*وزیراعلیٰ سید مراد علی شاہ کی زیر صدار adie انسداد پولیو کے حوالے اعلیٰ سطحی ا lex **
صوبائی وزیر ، چیف سیکریٹری، آئی جی پولیس ، میئر کراچی، کراچی اور دیگر اجلاس میں شریک
اجلاس میں ڈویژن کے تمام اضلاع کے ڈپٹی کمشنرز موجود حیدرآباد ، میرپورخاص، شہید بینظی usion ، … pic.twitter.com/s0yxalcuhj
– Sindh Information Department (@Sindhinfodepart) October 3, 2025
In all Pakistan, 29 cases have been confirmed this year with 18 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, nine in Sindh, and one in Punjab and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
During the informative session, the Minister of Health, Dr. Azra Pechuho, and the coordinator of EOC, Irshad Sodhar, said that new cases were detected in Thatta, Badin, Mithi, UMRKOT, Hyderabad, Qambar and Larkana. The majority, they pointed out, were linked to the refusal of parents or absent children during vaccination campaigns.
Shah was informed that the environmental samples of multiple sites in Karachi, including Sohrab Goth, Orangi, Mosquito Colony, Rashid Minhas and Hijrat Colony, had positive for the virus, showing their persistent circulation in urban areas.
He addressed the Department of Health to activate the refusation conversion committee to review each home that decreases vaccination. He also instructed chosen representatives, attached commissioners and SSP to personally ensure that drops are administered, even force if necessary.
Read more: Sindh reports two new cases of polio
In addition, he warned officials that negligence in the campaign would not be tolerated. “Any official who does not show performance will no longer be part of my team. I have already eliminated the officers of the Department of Health and the District Administration, and greater negligence will lead to more moving,” he warned.
Shah emphasized that the next October 13 campaign should be carried out in a “war” way, which covers nomadic families in the Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas divisions that are often lost due to migration. He urged the public to cooperate completely so that “their own children and the children of their neighbors remain free of polio.”
During the September trip, 216,664 children in Sindh lost vaccination: 181,142 were not at home, while the parents of 35,522 rejected the drops, it was told to the meeting.
The CM ordered the main secretary Asif Hyder Shah to prepare a plan to block Sims, IDS and passports of rejection cases and ordered all relevant officials to inform the progress to him. “This is not just a government program, it is a struggle for the health and future of our children,” he concluded.
