Measles-Rubella catch-up’ drive to cover 19m children: Shah

Says vaccinators will visit over 71,000 govt, private schools, Madaris

KARACHI:

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah inaugurating Measles-Rubella Catch-Up Campaign said that 19 million children, aged nine months to 15 years would be vaccinated across the province and simultaneously 8.2 million children under five years of age would be given polio drops.

The inauguration ceremony was organized at Karachi's oldest public education institute Narayan Jaganath Vaidiya (NJV) Government Higher Secondary School, established 1855 by Sir Bartle Frere.

The ceremony held at NJV School was attended by Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, Health Secretary Zulfiqar Shah, Extended Programme for Immunisation (EPI) project director Dr Irshad Memon.

CM said the nation-wide MeaslesRubella Catch-Up Campaign will continue till November 27.

Shah said that the health department with the support of the education department would cover more than 6.5 million children in approximately 71,856 both public and private sector schools.

He announced that the remaining eligible children would be covered through fixed, out-reach and special mobile teams.

The chief minister requested the parents to cooperate with government and health teams to vaccinate their eligible children against measles and rubella.

"The Sindh government's efforts have resulted in zero cases of poliovirus since more than one year and our environmental samples have also come negative for the first time," he said and added this was a big achievement.

The chief minister lauded the support from communities and the media to purge the province from the from crippling disease.

He urged every parent to get their children vaccinated. "EPI programme is offering free of cost immunisation against 12 deadly diseases, and it should be our responsibility to protect our future generations," he said.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the drive by witnessing the vaccination process and administered polio drops to the children.

Talking to the media the chief minister said he has directed the health secretary to resolve all the legal demands of the vaccinators currently protesting for acceptance of their demands.

He added that it was unreasonable to start protests when the government had launched a war against deadly and communicable diseases.

"It is against the ethics of the health profession to protest at the cost of healthcare services." Replying to a question, he said that a survey was being made to assess the losses of fire that broke out in Saddar Cooperative market.

Karachi Commissioner Muhammd Iqbal Memon on Monday inaugurated the 13-day Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign during a ceremony at Government Girls School at Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University of Law, Frere Town.

South Deputy Commissioner Irshad Sodhar, representatives of Unicef, Bill Gates and Milenda Foundation, officials of EOC, health department and others were also present on the occasion. Children were vaccinated by trained and qualified vaccinators.

Talking to media, the commissioner said that the campaign has been launched in Karachi like other parts of the country with the support of Unicef and Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation.

He said that city administration would extend full support to make the efforts successful to protect children against dangerous viruses.

The commissioner urged the parents to get their children vaccinated to protect the children against Measles and Rubella.