Anti-polio drive under way in Sindh

Nearly seven million children in 21 districts to be administered vaccine

KARACHI: A six-day polio campaign started across the province on Monday and aims to immunise over 6.7 million children at risk of contracting the crippling disease.

Additional IG Mushtaq Mahar and coordinator of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) for Polio in Sindh, Fayaz Jatoi, monitored the campaign from the EOC Sindh office on Monday.



Talking to the media, Jatoi said the overall situation in Karachi and northern Sindh has significantly improved but we must keep on improving and concentrate on the coverage of missed children. “One child missed is a threat to all,” he said, requesting parents to cooperate with health workers so the crippling disease can be eliminated from Pakistan.

The ‘sub-national polio supplementary immunisation activity’ will target a total of 6,790,314 children under five years of age in 21 districts of the province.



Mobile teams of polio workers in Karachi’s districts East, Central, South, Korangi and Malir and Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Khairpur, Kamber, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Kashmore, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Matiari, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushero Feroz, Dadu and Sanghar districts will conduct the campaign from August 29 till September 1.

Moreover, a community based vaccination drive will take place in Karachi and the rest of the province till September 3.

The total children to be targeted in Karachi are 2,271,977 while the remaining 4,518,337 will be inoculated in the rest of the province.

In the metropolis, 99 union councils will be especially targeted as part of the community based vaccination activity.

On the first day of the campaign, 8,089 teams were deployed in six districts of Karachi with 1,884 area in-charges and almost 5,000 police personnel providing security.

According to the EOC, four cases of polio emerged in Sindh this year, of which two were reported in Shikarpur and one each in Jacobabad and Karachi.



“Polio virus will be eliminated at any cost,” said commissioner Karachi Ejaz Ahmed Khan in a statement. Khan directed all deputy commissioners in Karachi to facilitate the polio workers in their districts. According to him, all resources are being utilised and maximum security will be provided to make the polio campaign successful.

Show-cause notices

Hyderabad Commissioner Qazi Shahid Pervez visited several health centres on Monday as part of the four-day polio eradication drive and issued show-cause notices to seven doctors and lady health workers for being absent from duty.

As many as 310,599 children under five years of age will be administered polio drops as part of the campaign.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2016.