CM launches week-long anti-polio drive

Over 9.9 million children will be vaccinated during the campaign, says Murad

KARACHI:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that polio has no cure, but it is easy to prevent through vaccination at the right time, and the Sindh government is sending health workers with vaccines to your doorsteps.

This he said while talking to media at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) where he launched a weeklong polio campaign. Minister for Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Secretary of health Zulfiqar Shah, Commissioner Karachi Iqbal Memon, and others were present on the occasion.

The CM said his government has launched a province-wide polio campaign starting from 15th August to 21st August 2022, in Karachi and Hyderabad. He said that from 22nd August to 28th August, the campaign will be started in the remaining districts of Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, and Larkana divisions.

He said under the campaign, oral polio drops will be given to over 9.9 million children under the age of five years. “In the drive, 33,982 teams along with 9,137 supervisors will be participating across the province,” he said.

He further said that 3,556 partner staff from the different organisations will be deployed for supportive supervision and monitoring. According to Murad, out of the target of over 9.9 million children, more than 2.4 million children live in Karachi. 14 polio cases have been reported in April 2022, and all of them belong to South KP. He said that seven positive environmental samples have also been detected in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Sawat, Bannu, and Nowshera.

Murad Ali Shah said, it was a great achievement for his government and Emergency Operation Centre, Sindh (EOC) that all the environmental samples from our province have been negative.

“Sindh has not reported any polio case since July 2020 and has had continuous negative environment samples for the past year.,” he said.

Murad disclosed that after the report of the first case in April 2022 from North Waziristan EOC Sindh has increased vigilance at entry and exit points at the borders with other provinces and vaccinated 5,71,566 children of whom 13,088 belong to South KP District.

“Children can be protected from childhood crippling diseases like polio through vaccination, and we seek every stakeholder’s help to raise awareness for the purpose,” he said.

The CM said that the efforts have resulted in around a 50 per-cent reduction in refusals and missed children, but we must bring them down further, especially in Karachi. He appealed to parents to cooperate with the government in eradicating polio from Pakistan.

While answering a question, Murad said that people are attending Imran Khan’s rallies because he is a great entertainer and teaches them new definitions of science, geography, religion, and phenology.

“He says trains equivalent to the speed of light are being invented. Once he said that Germany and Japan have joint borders, Allah doesn’t allow people to be neutral, and he also says Pakistan has 12 seasons,” he quoted some excerpts from the PTI chief’s speeches.

The CM said that the musical shows, theatres, and movies attract people in large numbers, but it does not mean that they will choose a “dholak player” as their ruler.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2022.