Anti-polio drive: With adequate security, focus shifts to quality

Five-day campaign to cover all 188 UCs of the city

KARACHI: Senior officials paid surprise visits to various areas of the city to monitor the performance of polio workers on the second day of the ongoing five-day immunisation campaign on Tuesday.

As the day started, polio teams reached their designated areas along with sufficient security personnel on time.

To ensure the deployment of police, presence of doctors and availability of polio workers, AIG Mushtaque Mehar, health secretary Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo and Karachi commissioner Asif Haider Shah reached the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) early morning.



The commissioner visited various areas, including North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Katti Pahari and parts of South and Central districts and monitored the drive against the polio virus.



"There is no security issue now," Shah said, while speaking to The Express Tribune. He claimed that there were no refusal or resistance cases reported from any part of the city. "There is a very positive feedback from all sides, [including the] officials and public," he said, adding that the polio teams' performance has increased due to the presence of top officials in the field. The general public also understands the seriousness of the issue, he said, adding that he and other officials were trying to fix issues that health workers and residents face.

The commissioner and EOC coordinator met the polio teams, doctors and residents and also checked ink marks on fingers of children who have been vaccinated.

"The security was fine, now we [need to] focus on the teams' performances," said Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar, EOC's provincial coordinator

Earlier, the EOC was not able to check the performance due to security reasons, he said. Dr Chachar added that not only the polio workers, but the medical officers in union councils (UCs) and all taluka health officials were also being monitored.



More than 4,600 policemen were deployed on the second day, while there were 6,200 polio teams on duty across the city to administer drops to more than 2.1 million children in 188 UCs. The campaign started on Monday and will continue till Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2016.