Polio survivor helps convince naysaying parents

Hospital worker joins every vaccination drive in city

LAHORE:

A 32-year-old polio survivor from Lahore, Sadia Salman, has convinced hundreds of hundreds of reluctant parents to vaccinate their children against the disease.

While working hard during a recent vaccination campaign, she said she faced difficulties in performing her duty but he aim was the eradication of polio from the country. She said she wanted no child to face the miseries that she was facing because of polio.

Sadia was a role model for the thousands of polio workers performing duties around Punjab during the vaccination campaign.

According to health experts, denial of permission for polio vaccination is still a major problem as such cases are encountered in every vaccination campaign.

Besides performing polio duties along with her colleagues, Sadia also presents her own example to persuade the parents refusing the vaccination of their children to cooperate with the polio teams.

She told The Express Tribune that she had been afflicted by polio in childhood. She lives in a rented room on Ghazi Road along with her three-year-old daughter and husband.

Sadia is employed as a sanitary patrol official in a hospital and during her six-year service she has performed duties in almost all anti-polio campaigns carried out by the Punjab Emergency Operations Centre. She is considered a role model for all polio workers in Lahore because of persuading a large number of mothers to give polio drops to their children.

"I was six years old when I was afflicted by polio because of the ignorance of my parents who had not ensured my vaccination. I have been suffering since then. My parents did not know about the importance of polio vaccination but I don't blame them and I am now living with the mission that I will not allow any parent to deny their kids the polio drops," she said.

"I continued my education and did graduation but faced a struggle, including discouragement from some people as a polio victim. At the same time, there were also good friends who encourage me and it is my good luck that I also got a job," she said.

She added, "Because of suffering due to the disability, I decided to do a job that would provide me an opportunity to play a role in eradicating polio. In my service during the past six years, I have met a large number of people who were not willing to administer polio drops to their kids but I convinced them by presenting my own example."

She said she tried to inform the parents and allay their concerns about the vaccination and they mostly expressed willingness to cooperate.

She said she had seen many cases when people use to shut their doors to the polio teams but now they happily vaccinated their children.

"I request all parents to cooperate with the polio teams and join hands with us to eradicate the disease," she added.

Replying to a question, Sadia Salman said she faced problems in commuting to and back from the work.

"I believe that every employed special person faces the same issues, especially women," she added.