NIH, parliamentary secretary disagree on mpox tally.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Health Services Parliamentary Secretary Dr Shazia Soomro do not see eye to eye on the number of mpox cases, with the NIH claiming three mpox cases while Dr Soomro telling lawmakers that only two cases were reported in the country.

Replying to a calling attention notice on Tuesday, the parliamentary secretary said that since April 17 when Pakistan reported its first case, only one more person tested positive.

She said even the wife of the person, who was found positive, turned out negative for the viral disease.

However, the NIH gave a figure of three.

'Third case of monkeypox in Pakistan is confirmed by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi. This is the first case of monkeypox confirmed in Karachi Sindh, bringing the tally to three in the country,' a statement issued by the NIH on May 4 mentioned.

Dr Soomro said that all the provinces, border health services and ministries had been informed about the standard operating procedures (SOP).

MNA Aliya Kamran said, according to her information, there were no arrangements to check every person at airports and those who come from land borders or by sea.

She asked if a letter has been written to the provinces to arrange testing kits and take measures for the treatment of patients if local transmission starts.

She claimed that she had information that there were two...