Over 11,000 children miss polio vaccination in Hyderabad

Over 11,000 children could not be administered polio drops by the end of the eight-day anti-polio drive in Hyderabad district as most of the children were reportedly not present at homes.

A report in this regard compiled at the end of this month's anti-polio campaign, conducted with the collaboration of the district administration and the health department under WHO, has been sent to the relevant authorities.

According to the report, a total of 11,704 children under five in the district were unable to receive the polio drops during the eight-day anti-polio campaign. This includes 10,913 children who were not present at home, while 791 parents refused to vaccinate their children.

During the campaign, the Divisional Commissioner of Hyderabad, Bilal Memon, had directed the district administration and health department officials to improve performance due to the large number of children missing out the immunisation. However, thousands of children still missed the vaccination despite extending the campaign for one additional day beyond the original seven days in the wake of finding polio cases in the district.

According to sources in the health department, the high-ranking officials claim in closed-door meetings to provide the necessary facilities and security for polio workers but in practice, they are neither given the required facilities nor adequate security.

Complaints were received during the recent campaign of harassment and threats to polio workers in various areas of the city, yet no action was taken at the government level.

In rural areas, armed individuals even took a polio team hostage, depriving them of valuable mobile phones, motorcycles, and cash. The affected polio worker filed written complaints to the relevant authorities, but no relief was provided. This situation has led to a wave of despair among polio workers.

According to the report, there is a high number of refusals by parents in various UCs including Cantt, Town Municipal Corporation, Hussainabad, Mian Sarfraz, Neron Kot, Preetabad, Qasimabad, Sachal Sarmast, Latifabad, Tando Fazal, and Tando Jam. The target was set to vaccinate 400,837 children across the district for this anti-polio campaign.