District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal and Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique administered the polio vaccine and Vitamin-A doses to children under five years of age on Saturday.
The three-day polio immunisation campaign will officially start in Punjab from October 15 (tomorrow).
Mengal administered polio drops to children of nomad families living behind the Expo Centre at Johar Town.
Rafique administered the polio vaccine and Vitamin-A doses to children at Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital.
They were accompanied by WHO Country Head Dr Naeema Abid, a UNICEF representative, Punjab Health Director General Dr Nisar Cheema, Health EDO Dr Inamul Haq and Assistant Commissioner Nadia Saqib.
Addressing the ceremony, Mengal said more than 6,000 workers would go door to door to administer polio drops to more than 1.5 million children under five years of age in the city. He said the city district government had also sought the help of religious scholars and Pushto-speaking students of the GC University to make the polio campaign successful.
Mengal said samples taken in Lahore showed that there was no polio virus in the city. He said the previous polio campaigns had been successful due to the active participation of scouts. The scouts would again perform their duties in this campaign. He gave prizes of Rs5,000 each to the 10 best scouts.
He also inaugurated an advertisement campaign for the polio drive at Town Hall. He said that 2,000 polio campaign banners and steamers had been displayed on the back of rickshaws.
Talking to the media, Rafique said that Pakistan was one of the only three countries where polio was present. He said there was a need to launch a vigorous campaign throughout the country to eradicate polio. He said that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and its adjoining areas, thousands of children were deprived of polio vaccination. He said there had been a remarkable improvement in polio coverage in Punjab, due to which only three polio cases were spotted this year. There were nine cases in the previous year.
He said that in 2011, 198 polio cases had been reported throughout the country, which had been reduced to 43 in the current year. He said the Punjab government had taken steps to eliminate polio virus and the chief minister had directed all DCOs to supervise the polio campaign.
Dr Nisar Cheema said that 38,398 mobile teams had been formed to administer polio drops to 17.65 million children in Punjab. He said that more than four million children were Vitamin-A deficient in Punjab. That’s why their resistance natural to disease and eyesight were poor. He said the government had arranged for Vitamin-A doses for more than 14 million children in collaboration with the WHO, UNICEF and Micro Nutrient Initiative. He appealed to parents to ensure their children are vaccinated for polio.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2012.
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