Polio immunisation: Accountability and security are of top importance, says Tarar

State health minister stresses on need to make Karachi polio-free

KARACHI: State minister for health Saira Afzal Tarar is once again unhappy with the performance of the Sindh health department, especially on the issue of polio campaigns.

Tarar attended a meeting with provincial health officials on Monday during her visit to Karachi, urging them to expedite the anti-polio drives. She was of the view that the number of polio cases have gone down in other parts of the country but not in Sindh, adding that polio drives have been delayed due to security reasons.



"Accountability and security are of top importance," she claimed, adding that while there is commitment on the part of the health officials to eradicate the crippling disease among children, there are also issues.

"Karachi for all of us is Pakistan and it does not matter if we succeed in the whole country if there are still problems in Karachi," she pointed out. "We need ruthless accountability," the minister urged.

Sindh Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) coordinator Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar said that four points that need to be focused on are the strengthening of accountability, better coordination and a realistic assessment of ensuring security, strengthening the functionality of the provincial EOC and district polio control.

"To succeed in eradicating polio, we must outperform every other part of the country," he said. "Eradication of polio from Karachi means the eradication of polio from Pakistan."  He said that all health officials have taken sincere efforts to make Karachi a polio-free city.

Sindh chief secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon told the federal minister that a task force has been notified, headed by the Karachi commissioner. "We will have strong accountability and will take action against people who do not perform [their duties]," he briefed.

Sindh health minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar said that the political leadership was committed to eradicating epidemic and viral diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, AIDS and hepatitis, adding that a comprehensive plan is being implemented for newborn, mother and adolescent health.

The provincial minister said that areas that were once considered no-go-areas had now been made accessible to administer polio drops, saying that positive results are expected now.

Tarar said that through a total of 978,040 families in Sindh could benefit from the Prime Minister's National Health Insurance Programme and the federal government was providing support in terms of coordination, planning, standardisation and regulation, international collaboration and resource mobilisation.

She said that funding from the federal government for the Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health programme was Rs169 million and for the Lady Health Worker programme was Rs1.54 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st,  2015.