WHO offers to set up more vaccination centres

QUETTA:

The World Health Organization has offered support for the establishment of more mass vaccination centers in Balochistan, stressing the need to expedite the Covid testing and vaccination process in the largest province of the country.

This development was confirmed by Dr Rubaba Buledi, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Chairperson of the Provincial Task Force Balochistan.

In a meeting chaired by Dr Palitha Mahipala, the WHO representative in Pakistan, the capacity of the vaccination process was deliberated upon.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Buledi said a high-level provincial task force has been set up to continuously review the situation in Balochistan, which includes senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, the Education Department and other relevant departments.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in Balochistan. Looking at it from a broader perspective and taking into account the shortcomings co-management in this whole process, we are moving towards optimising the strategy,” she said, adding that effective and long lasting management in Balochistan, it is necessary to train the local manpower so that the entire process can be made effective.

The parliamentary health secretary informed the meeting that the pilot phase of Universal Health Coverage Programme is being launched in nine districts of Balochistan with the efforts of the incumbent provincial government. WHO representative Dr Mahipala said steps would be taken by the provincial government to ensure success of the programme in Balochistan.

He added that the WHO has compiled a study report on the outbreak in Ketch which compares the shortcomings in the context of the overall situation and offers suggestions for improvement.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2021.