Moving on: K-P govt to begin fresh anti-polio drive

Aims to administer vaccines to children who missed out, seeks support from army.

PESHAWAR:

While the scars left by the killing of polio workers may take a while to heal, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Monday decided to begin a fresh immunisation campaign with the help of the police and army.

The United Nations recommended halting the anti-polio campaign after nine polio workers were slain in Karachi, Charsadda and Peshawar last week in what the police later admitted seemed ‘organised’ attacks.

But while the government of Sindh postponed the campaign in the province, the administration of K-P went ahead with the drive, only suspending it in the areas where the killings took place.

The vaccination campaign will now be completed in high-risk union councils of the province in the remaining days of December and vaccinations will be administered to children who missed out as a result of the killings.

The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by K-P Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastagir and attended by Inspector General of Police Akbar Khan Hoti, Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department Azam Khan, National Task Force members MNA Asma Alamgir and Rubina Khalid, officials from the Health Department, commissioners and representatives of World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.



A large number of children missed the vaccines due to the killings of volunteers and the campaign would be completed in high-risk councils in the remaining days of this month, Dastagir told reporters after the meeting.

“Twenty-five polio cases in K-P and 20 in Fata have been reported. We will try to utilise all available resources so that no case surfaces next year, and a combined national immunisation campaign will be held in the coming year,” said Dastagir.

MNA Asma Alamgir said they were trying to cope with the situation created in the wake of a fake polio campaign carried out by Dr Shakil Afridi to hunt down Osama bin Laden. She added that every district would devise its own strategy to deal with the situation.

“It’s a big issue for the country and the next generation, and we will seek the support of the army if required in some parts of the province,” said Alamgir.

K-P Inspector General of Police Akbar Khan Hoti told The Express Tribune that day-long campaigns will be carried out in one part of a district at a time under the supervision of police and security guards who will patrol the streets and guard the place of vaccinations.

“It we are conducting a campaign in Peshawar, we can call the police from nearby districts and the army will fully coordinate with polio workers and officials in case their assistance is required in some districts,” said Hoti.

He added that the local community would be mobilised to play its due role and take the responsibility of ensuring that parents bring their children to the place of vaccination.

Secretary Affairs Khan said campaigns will be carried out in high-risk districts including Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan on different days to ensure there is no shortage of police personnel.

Meanwhile, the Independent Monitoring Board has recommended ‘pre-travel’ checks in Pakistan and reported that K-P experienced a surge in polio in the second half of 2012, accounting for nearly 40% of cases in the country and 46% of the infected towns and districts this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2012.