ECNEC approves revised polio eradication plan at $986.29m

ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Friday approved revised emergency plan for eradication of polio at a cost of $986.29 million.

The ECNEC, which met in Islamabad with Finance Minister Asad Umar in the chair, also approved feasibility study and dualisation of 42-kilometer long Mardan-Swabi Road at a cost of Rs9,550.10 million.

The polio eradication plan aims to end the epidemic through supplemental immunization across the country and use environmental surveillance to completely check poliovirus transmission. A fresh polio case was detected on January 10 in the Lakki Marwat area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, on January 4, had pledged that polio would be eradicated from Pakistan by 2019.