Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah inaugurated the province-wide anti-polio campaign by administering oral polio drops to two newborns at the KMC Gizri Maternity Home. The campaign is scheduled to run from October 13 to 19, targeting over 10.6 million children under the age of five.
The CM emphasised that the government is fully committed to making Pakistan polio-free, revealing that around 80,000 health workers and 21,000 security personnel are participating in the campaign to ensure both effective outreach and the vaccination teams' safety. He stressed the need for full monitoring across all districts, noting that teams will not only administer polio drops door-to-door but will also distribute Vitamin A supplements.
Shah expressed concern over the detection of nine new polio cases in Sindh this year, and the presence of the virus in environmental samples, calling it a serious public health concern.
Terming the eradication of polio a moral obligation, as every child deserves a healthy and safe future, the CM urged parents to ensure their children are vaccinated and requested that those who miss vaccination visit their nearest health center. He appealed to religious scholars, teachers, civil society, political leaders, and media to actively support the campaign and added that cases of vaccine refusal will be reported to the CM's Monitoring Cell.
Conversing with the media, Shah highlighted that only Pakistan and Afghanistan remain polio-endemic countries. However, he assured that in Sindh, 100 per cent coverage is being ensured across 1,400 union councils, with vaccination teams also administering polio drops to Afghan children returning across the border. With a lighter tone, he also remarked, "I've administered polio drops so many times, I've become an expert at it! It's not difficult - it's our duty to protect our children."
During the campaign inauguration, the CM was accompanied by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, IG Ghulam Nabi Memon, Commissioner Hassan Naqvi, Secretary of School Education Zahid Abbasi, Secretary of Health Rehan Baloch, among other senior representatives from the health and education departments. Also present were representatives from UNICEF, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Rotary International.
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