Schedule for Sehat ka Ittehad announced

Drive to be inaugurated by Imran Khan on February 8

PESHAWAR: The schedule for the much-hyped provincial and federal government venture Sehat ka Ittehad has been issued, said officials familiar with the matter on Wednesday.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan will officially inaugurate the campaign on February 8 and it will run from February through May, according to officials.

Minister for Health Shahram Tarakai will supervise Sehat ka Ittehad which aims to fight nine preventable diseases in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and its neighbouring Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Working group

According to a statement issued by the K-P Home  and Tribal Affairs department on Wednesday evening, Home Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah has been nominated as the chief coordinator of the working group that will implement the campaign. The group is has been tasked to ensure effective coordination between the province and Fata.

A meeting was held in this regard in the home department which was attended by representatives of FATA Secretariat, Headquarters 11 Corps, police special branch and Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

It was decided in the meeting that patwaris and union council secretaries will be part of the special campaign, while EPI representatives will monitor the drive and remain in constant contact with the Provincial Crisis Management Centre that has already been set up.

“The home department would ensure the initiation of quick response and punitive action against those who are found damaging the noble cause,” the statement read, adding no laxity would be tolerated at any cost.

Tarakai announced Sehat ka Ittehad campaign on January 22 after a meeting of the apex committee formed to implement the National Action Plan at the provincial level. Governor Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Peshawar Corps Commander Lieutenant General Hidayatullah Rehman discussed a strategy to counter nine preventable diseases, diptheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, pertussis, polio, meningitis, hepatitis B, influenza and measles.

With additional input from our correspondent in Karachi