Pindi launches week-long anti-polio drive

An extensive seven-day anti-polio campaign will be kicked off across the Rawalpindi district starting Monday (today) after the presence of the poliovirus in the environmental samples obtained from 12 union councils (UCs) was confirmed. The polio virus was detected in areas including the cantonment.

Approximately 1.57 million children will be administered polio vaccination drops during the campaign.

The District Health Authority (DHA) has increased the number of monitoring officers for this new campaign by adding 42 more teams to the fixed, transit and mobile centres. Now 3,737 polio teams would cover the assigned areas during the campaign.

The DHA's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Asif Arbab Niazi said that after the confirmation of the polio virus in environmental samples from 12 UCs, the anti-polio campaign held significant importance.

He said that the field teams would not only complete the set target but also make efforts to minimise the refusals by children's parents.

The children under five and coming from outside Rawalpindi will be administered 100% polio drops, the CEO maintained. Niazi said that three polio samples taken from the environment were negative, while the results of two samples were yet to come.

He said that though not a single polio patient had been detected in the Rawalpindi district, the confirmation of the polio virus in environmental samples couldn't be ignored.