Anti-polio campaign: K-P removes EOC coordinator

EPI Director Dr Muhammad Saleem to take over the post as an additional charge

PESHAWAR: With as many as 41 polio cases confirmed from across the province – including the newly-merged tribal districts – so far this year, the provincial government on Tuesday made its first major shakeup in its vaccination efforts, removing the coordinator of the provincial Emergency Operations Centre.

The notification surfaced the same day the chief secretary of the province also visited the centre to review efforts to eradicate polio from the province.

In a notification issued by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Secretary Dr Farooq Jamil, it stated that “the competent authority (K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan) on the request of Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Babar Bin Atta, and in consultation with relevant stakeholders, has very kindly intimated his approval to the K-P Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan regarding surrendering services of Captain (retired) Kamran Afridi (PAS Basic Pay Scale-19) as coordinator, Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), K-P in the public interest with immediate effect.”

The notice added that Afridi had been appointed by the provincial government as the EOC coordinator for K-P in December 2018 on deputation basis.

While the government did not name an immediate, permanent replacement for Afridi, CM Mahmood in the notice directed that the K-P Emergency Programme for Immunisation (EPI) Director Dr Muhammad Saleem take over the post as an additional charge to his duties until further orders.

To appoint a permanent successor to Afridi in the EOC, the notice said that a panel of three, ‘suitable officers’ will be submitted within two weeks from which the new coordinator will be selected.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2019.