The fight goes on: Anti-polio campaign kicks off in Sindh

Five-day polio vaccination campaign targets 8.7 million children across Sindh

LARKANA/ HYDERABAD/ KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho inaugurated the five-day polio vaccination campaign at Jannat Gul Hospital in Sohrab Goth on Monday.

The campaign aims to make Pakistan a polio free country and targets 8.7 million children under five years of age, including 2.4 million in Karachi. Pechuho assured that the government accords top priority to the prevention of disease among all sections of society without any distinction. She added, "Governments at the provincial as well as federal levels are equally committed to guarantee safe and disease-free lives for children."

She informed that the current Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) campaign is being complemented with the administration of Vitamin A which is equally vital for young children. Expanded Program on Immunisation - Sindh (EPI-Sindh) Director Dr Zahoor Baloch confirmed that 12,000 volunteers are actively engaged in the administration of OPV to children under five in Karachi.

With specific reference to her presence at Sohrab Goth, a locality largely inhabited by people with high mobility rates, Pechuho said that the fact that this area is one of the major points of entry and exit, from the metropolis makes it all the more crucial that no child here is denied OPV. Moreover, Pechuho appreciated the security measures adopted by the administration for the safety of the polio teams across the city.

"To facilitate the process, we have also established static points at most prominent sites," she said. In response to a query, she added that in light of the recent surge in temperatures, the health department is in the process of reactivating dedicated centres for efficient and prompt management of heatstroke cases.

Pechuho also invited parents to report any discrepancy with regards to the presence of vaccinators at their respective doorsteps and urged the mothers who accompanied their children, to be more assertive in protecting the right to healthy and polio-free lives for their children.

Hyderabad

In Hyderabad, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Aslam Soomro formally inaugurated the five-day national polio campaign on Monday at the vaccination centre of Shah Bhittai Hospital, Latifabad. Speaking on the occasion, Soomro said that children are the future of the nation and need to be provided with a healthy atmosphere and proper vaccinations against epidemic diseases.

Soomro called upon the concerned officers to utilise all available resources to achieve the target task of vaccinating 336,675 children under five years of age. No negligence in this regard will be tolerated at any cost and those found guilty will be taken to task, he warned.

District Focal Person on the Polio Eradication Campaign Dr Masood Jaferi added that 991 mobile vaccination teams have been activated to administer polio drops to 336, 675 children under five in all talukas - Hyderabad City, Latifabad, Qasimabad and Hyderabad Rural - of the district. Dr Jaferi also noted that 117 teams have been engaged in administering polio drops at the fixed centres, and 23 teams have been deputed at the transit points of the district, to carry out vaccination.

Moreover, the superintendent at the Shah Bhittai Hospital, Dr Nasreen Memon, briefed Soomro over a shortage of required medicines. Soomro assured the provision of required medicines and later visited different wards of the hospital, including casualty, general and kidney wards where he asked the concerned staff to ensure cleanliness with availability of all necessary medicines and other facilities for patients.

No district ignored

The five-day national polio campaign also kicked off across Larkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kandhkot-Kashmore districts. The district health departments of these areas have deputed more than 3,100 mobile and fixed teams which will visit every house within the region, including remote and far-flung areas, and administer OPV to children under five years of age. The teams aim to target 1,178,360 children.  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2018.