Sehat ka Insaf: ‘Invest in children for a better Pakistan tomorrow’

PTI chief claims teachers have agreed to participate in future polio drives.

PESHAWAR:

After successful deliberations, teachers have agreed to take part in the polio campaign, claimed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.

Imran said this on Saturday as he launched ‘Sehat ka Insaf’– an awareness programme worth Rs20 billion to improve the status of children’s health in Peshawar.

Around 12,500 PTI volunteers, known as the Insaf Sehat Razakars, will carry out the drive in Peshawar district and will immunise 0.5 million children against nine paediatric diseases. Later, these razakars will cover other districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as well.

During a news briefing at a hotel, Imran said for PTI, investing in the health of children is investing in the future of Pakistan.



“Today we take responsibility to provide healthcare as a right of our children and ensure they are protected from diseases which are preventable,” he said.

Imran claimed the programme is the largest child health campaign in the country and Rs20 billion has been allocated for it. In the first phase, Sehat ka Insaf will cover 30,000 houses in Peshawar.

He explained volunteers will raise awareness against nine diseases, including polio, dengue, measles, pneumonia, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, and whooping cough.

The first three-month campaign for Peshawar will start in February – volunteers will distribute Insaf Sehat Kits door-to-door. He said the kits will include soap, water-cleaning tablets, and containers for drinking water.

“A series of health camps will be established across the city, offering free medical care to all children and will distribute thousands of coupons offering free vaccinations for all nine major diseases,” maintained Imran.

An aggressive door-to-door dengue awareness campaign will also be conducted during the three months in which special material will be distributed at 30,000 houses in Peshawar.

Volunteers will also ensure the delivery of nutrition biscuits and enriched edible oils to thousands in the provincial capital.

Insaf volunteers are trained to assist health department officials, and only food and travelling expenses will be provided to the razakars during the campaign. Imran claimed the health administration will cooperate with these volunteers and will provide them security.

PTI has put its full weight behind the health department to help not only eradicate the poliovirus, but also inform people against other diseases, shared Imran. Every year, 2.5 million children die of preventable diseases in Pakistan, he added.

He strongly criticised the case of Shakeel Afridi, which Imran claimed had a negative impact on polio efforts.

Appreciating the role of the police and polio workers, Imran announced compensation for families of martyred polio workers and police officials.

The PTI chairman also appreciated the media’s role; promising he will personally look into the case of a journalist beaten up by a police official on the premises of the K-P Assembly recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2014.