Polio campaign starts on 14th
Over 18.3m children under five years of age to be vaccinated
PHOTO: AFP
LAHORE:
The campaign against polio, which was halted following an attack on a polio worker in Lahore last month, would now be held across the province from 14 March to 17.
“There are no specific security threats across the province… still we have made tight security arrangements,” Health Department spokesman Akhlaq Ali Khan told The Express Tribune.
He said polio teams in all 36 districts had been asked to follow standard operating procedures. He said more than 18.3 million children under five years of age would be given vaccine drops during the campaign in 3,550 union councils. “DCOs and DPOs have been asked to make arrangements in accordance with the National Emergency Action Plan for Polio,” Khan said.
Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said the provincial government had been quite successful in controlling the virus. “Routine immunisation coverage has been increased significantly,” the adviser said in a statement.
“In 2015, only two polio cases were reported in the province out of the 54 cases reported across the country. No polio case has been reported in the Punjab in 2016,” Rafique said.
Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan said a recent casualty in Faisalabad, blamed on polio, was a reminder that the provincial government could not afford complacency.
He said the genetic sequence of the environmental sample in Faisalabad was related to Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The Health Department staff in Faisalabad had been directed to focus high-risk areas, the secretary said. He said 43,848 vaccination teams had been formed for the drive. Of these 36,848 were mobile teams, 4,340 had been assigned stationery sites and 2,314 were transit teams.
Health Services Director General Mukhtar Hussain Syed said, “We have identified poorly-performing union councils in the last three campaigns. We have directed the health EDOs to take steps to improve their performance,” he said.
“Instructions have been issued to all the EDOs to ensure that every child is covered in high-risk areas,” he said.
The director general said special transit points had been set up at district borders along other provinces to immunise children.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2016.
The campaign against polio, which was halted following an attack on a polio worker in Lahore last month, would now be held across the province from 14 March to 17.
“There are no specific security threats across the province… still we have made tight security arrangements,” Health Department spokesman Akhlaq Ali Khan told The Express Tribune.
He said polio teams in all 36 districts had been asked to follow standard operating procedures. He said more than 18.3 million children under five years of age would be given vaccine drops during the campaign in 3,550 union councils. “DCOs and DPOs have been asked to make arrangements in accordance with the National Emergency Action Plan for Polio,” Khan said.
Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said the provincial government had been quite successful in controlling the virus. “Routine immunisation coverage has been increased significantly,” the adviser said in a statement.
“In 2015, only two polio cases were reported in the province out of the 54 cases reported across the country. No polio case has been reported in the Punjab in 2016,” Rafique said.
Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan said a recent casualty in Faisalabad, blamed on polio, was a reminder that the provincial government could not afford complacency.
He said the genetic sequence of the environmental sample in Faisalabad was related to Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The Health Department staff in Faisalabad had been directed to focus high-risk areas, the secretary said. He said 43,848 vaccination teams had been formed for the drive. Of these 36,848 were mobile teams, 4,340 had been assigned stationery sites and 2,314 were transit teams.
Health Services Director General Mukhtar Hussain Syed said, “We have identified poorly-performing union councils in the last three campaigns. We have directed the health EDOs to take steps to improve their performance,” he said.
“Instructions have been issued to all the EDOs to ensure that every child is covered in high-risk areas,” he said.
The director general said special transit points had been set up at district borders along other provinces to immunise children.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2016.