First day of polio campaign lifts spirits

Top city, health and security officials personally monitor anti-polio drive

KARACHI: Close coordination of various government departments proved successful in the metropolis on the first day of the anti-polio campaign on Monday.

For the first time, the city administration, health officials and police worked together to ensure no child is left behind as all eyes are on Pakistan - one of the two countries in the world where the crippling disease still exists.



All deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners were on their toes as their boss, Karachi Commissioner Asif Haider Shah, who also leads the Karachi Polio Task Force, personally monitored the campaign from the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC).

Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo, the Sindh health secretary, also reached the EOC early morning to monitor the campaign. Meanwhile, AIG Mushtaque Mehar ensured that health teams were provided complete security across the city.



The five-day campaign is the first single-phase drive carried out after a couple of years. Single phase drives cover all 188 union councils of the city rather than targeting certain areas every day.

For 6,200 polio teams, more than 4,600 policemen were deployed. It was refreshing that polio teams were able to reach their destination on time and start work as soon as possible owing to the early availability of security personnel. Earlier, drives have been delayed for lack of security cover.



"It is a monthly campaign," said Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar, EOC's provincial coordinator. "All top officials realise the sensitivity of the issue."

Dr Chachar believed the personal involvement by the three officials -Karachi commissioner, AIG and health secretary -makes this campaign different from previous ones. "The security was better and it will certainly make the difference," he added.

"Polio is the biggest challenge and it will be eradicated one way or the other," the commissioner said after inaugurating the campaign at Khalid Jamil Government Dispensary.

Talking to media persons, Shah said eradicating polio from Karachi will not only help the country but also the world to get rid of the disease. He said that the national immunisation days have started across the country every month until May.



Meanwhile, the polio drive has also been started in 934 union councils of the 23 districts of the province. The target in the provincial capital is more than 2.1 million children while in the rest of the province it is approximately 6.1 million children under five.

Despite several anti-polio drives, seven polio cases were reported from the port city while five others surfaced from other districts of Sindh last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2016.