Polio drops. PHOTO: REUTERS
PESHAWAR: A special three-day campaign to inoculate nomads and high-risk populations against poliovirus concluded in four tehsils of South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday.
The campaign was carried out on the directives of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra.
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According to officials, the campaign was launched in Shakai, Birmal, Wana and Toi Khula areas where 1,113 children were vaccinated by 15 skilled technicians of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI).
Officials said that these people mostly travel from Punjab to South Waziristan and Afghanistan and were considered a serious risk to the programme.
A notification issued by the Fata Secretariat stated that the governor was committed to eradicating the virus from the tribal belt.
“We will not spare any opportunity to reach out and vaccinate our children no matter how far and hard to reach. We are determined to eradicate polio from Fata and will do everything possible to maintain zero-polio status,” the statement quoted the governor as saying.
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Appreciating the efforts of the agency’s health and administrative officials for carrying out a quality campaign in Ramazan, Coordinator for the provincial Emergency Operation Centre Dr Fida Mohammad Wazir stated that Fata programme’s results were consistent.
Earlier, the political agent of South Waziristan awarded the polio team with cash prizes for their hard work.
No polio case has so far been reported from FATA while only two polio cases were reported from South Waziristan Agency in FATA last year.
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