Let’s fight polio like Edhi did

July 8, 2016 could perhaps be labelled as one of the most unfortunate days in the history of Pakistan as one who was far more than a philanthropist, an angel of mercy for the masses, a priceless possession for the country, somebody a country could really be proud of, left us all for his heavenly abode, leaving behind him a vacuum in service to humanity.

Whenever, wherever calamity struck, Abdul Sattar Edhi and his volunteers were the first ones to arrive. Edhi’s ambulances would arrive at the scene before those of the Sindh Government Hospital and others.

His towering greatness lay in his superlative humility, for who else would condescend to stand at a traffic intersection and beg for “alms” for the poor. The beneficiaries of his philanthropy in Karachi, and in fact in the country, were a legion.

Contrary to common perception, it was not only when a calamity struck that we saw Edhi in action. His orphanages were full of not just orphans but children who for financial or other reasons could not be raised by their parents. Edhi raised these children as his own.

He was particularly concerned with the welfare of children. Small wonder then that he was so concerned about polio and personally involved in the efforts to rid Pakistan and his beloved children of the dreaded disease.

Who can forget the photographs of the father figure most affectionately administering polio drops to children in so many localities in Karachi?

Edhi’s contribution towards eradicating the scourge of polio could never be underestimated. As his son, Faisal, told this correspondent, Edhi took keen interest in the fieldwork of polio workers and allotted ambulances to his polio centres.

He allocated special places in several localities to facilitate the administration of anti-polio vaccine.

In addition to measures adopted by the government, Edhi did his bit to recognise the services rendered by polio workers and tried to ensure that they remained committed and recognised for their hard work, often in the face of difficulties.

Edhi’s office fully coordinated with the city government and the two worked in close collaboration in the endeavour to eradicate the scourge.

The pivotal importance of Edhi’s contribution to the anti-polio movement could be gauged from the fact that today, in an age of mind-boggling advances in the field of medicine and the sciences when a whole lot of communicable and fatal diseases have become a thing of the distant past, Pakistan, alongside Afghanistan, has the unenviable distinction of being in the throes of the crippling disease.

An age-old adage has it, “Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches”. It could be safely contended that Edhi was a latter-day Father Damien or David Livingstone.

Like Edhi, Pakistanis at home and abroad want to see children in Pakistan protected from all preventable diseases and illnesses – from polio to diarrhoea.

Edhi would be very happy to learn that his mission of seeing a polio-free Pakistan is heading for fruition. Talking to The News, Fayyaz Jatoi, the coordinator at the Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, Sindh, outlined the measures the government was taking for the eradication of the scourge.

He said the health department had now devised the scheme of community-based vaccination as people of the same community would find it easier to operate in familiar terrain and at the same time the residents of these localities would be much more comfortable with familiar faces.

Besides, he added, they had decided to enlist the services of religious scholars both at the national and international levels and many religious scholars from Pakistan and abroad were to be invited to mobilise public opinion in favour of preventive measures.

He said that 43 percent of the target had already been met. Giving a breakdown of the number of polio cases, he said in all there were 14 known cases in Pakistan, including four in Sindh of which two were reported in Shikarpur, one in Karachi and one in Jacobabad.

Edhi showed by personal example what a difference one man could make.

It is now up to his fellow Pakistanis – all of us - to follow his lead and complete the work he was so passionately involved in. So let us pull up our socks and knock polio out.