Public health: ‘DCOs told to supervise anti-polio campaign’

Special check posts to be established at transit points between provinces.

LAHORE:

All district coordination officers (DCOs) must personally monitor the anti-polio campaign, said Punjab Chief Secretary Naveed Akram Cheema on Wednesday. He said special attention should be paid to the micro-planning of the campaign to make Punjab polio-free in 2014.

Chairing a meeting of the provincial Taskforce on Polio Eradication at the Civil Secretariat, Cheema said that polio eradication was a national responsibility.

State Minister Saira Afzal Tarrar said that a consolidated effort would be required to eradicate polio in Pakistan. She said hundreds of thousands of children had been deprived of vaccination because polio vaccination teams did not have access in FATA and other troubled areas. Tarrar said officers and officials of the Health Department would have to work hard under the supervision of DCOs at the district level to monitor the campaign at a grass roots level. She added that transit points in the province should be paid special attention by ensuring the vaccination of traveling children.



Khawaja Salman Rafique, advisor to the Chief Minister on Health, said the Health Department was in contact with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in this regard and special check posts were being set up at transit points. He said the government would ensure police cooperation for the security of polio workers.

Special Secretary Health Babar Hayat Tarrar gave a presentation on the current situation of polio in Punjab. He gave suggestions for a future strategy to eradicate polio. He said national immunisation days would be observed from January 20 to 22 and from February 24 to 26 during which polio vaccine drops would be administered to children across the province. He said sub-national immunisation days would be observed from February 6 to 8 in high risk areas.

The polio virus had recently been discovered in sewage samples from Multan and sub districts of Toba Tek Singh. The WHO had warned the Health Department to take strict measures to combat the disease and ensure 100 per cent vaccination coverage or face travel restrictions.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.