BY ALE ASA
Up to 77,000 children in the Enga Province will have to be vaccinated if it wants to kick out polio in the province.
Enga also has a confirmed case of polio from the Porgera District and they are on high alert.
While this is the scary reality, Enga provincial administrator, Dr Samson Amean, is confident that polio will be eradicated out of the province.
“Polio em i liklik samting (Polio is a small thing). When we put our hands together, we will get it done,” he said.
Dr Amean said this during the launching of the polio campaign in Wabag town on Tuesday.
Dr Amean, who is also a medical doctor by profession, has been practicing for more than 10 years before taking office as administrator and now he is recognised as a longest serving provincial administrator in the country.
Dr Amean said with the strong support demonstrated by the Health Secretary and partners like the UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, he has no doubt polio will become history in the country.
The Health Secretary Pascoe Kase also assured the province that the resources are already available to end polio in Enga and PNG.
“The department and its partners, the WHO, UNICEF and Australian government, are helping with resources to end polio.” he said.
Dr Amean appealed to the people in the province to put all their differences aside and put the welfare of the children first.
Dr Amean praised the Health Secretary for his foresight and organisation in rolling out this campaign.
The polio case in Enga involves a three-year-old boy from Mulutika, Laiagaip-Porgera district. There are also two in Morobe, one from Eastern Highlands ontop of 85 per cent suspected cases.A mass polio vaccination campaigns is being implemented in PNG following confirmation on June 22 that the poliovirus is circulating in the country after 18 years being polio-free. Enga is one of the nine provinces that is rolling out the polio campaign.