Sehat ka Insaf: Sheikhan, Suleman Khel, Mattani left unvaccinated

Govt claims to have covered 94 UCs of Peshawar on Sunday whereas only 92 exist on record.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Sunday claimed 0.64 million children were inoculated against nine diseases during the sixth round of Sehat ka Insaf across 94 union councils of the provincial capital.

In the fifth phase carried out on March 3, 95 union councils (UC) were covered. Two UCs, Sheikhan and Suleman Khel, which border Khyber Agency were left out then. On Sunday, the same two UCs along with Mattani were left uncovered by health teams.

Talking to the media at the inauguration of the sixth phase at Cantonment General Hospital, Saddar earlier in the day, Minister for Health Shaukat Yousafzai said they could not reach the volatile UCs. “We tried our best to include these union councils but due to security reasons we could not take the risk.”

He shared that the target of the phase was to reach 0.68 million children in more than 0.3 million houses in Peshawar.

Around 4,000 workers, including 1,288 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers, 670 teachers and a high number of health workers and volunteers participated in this round. They went door to door to administer vaccination drops and educated people about the nine diseases, including polio, diarrhea, pneumonia, measles and dengue.

Yousafzai said the campaign will continue till April 21 and ensure not a single child in the provincial capital is left unvaccinated.

“While some people can afford to treat their children against the diseases, there are others who cannot,” Yousafzai said, appealing to the parents to cooperate with the workers and let them administer all the vaccinations.

He claimed the PTI was the first government that took the responsibility to provide better health facilities to its people. “For several years, the security situation in the province has been worsening, which makes it difficult to ensure equal facilities for all,” he said, adding they are trying their best to provide basic health facilities to all sections of society.

About the negotiation process with the Taliban, Yousafzai said there is no other way for peace to prevail. He said the PTI government wanted peace in the country and for that it is prepared to offer all-out support to the federal government.

He said for successful negotiations, both parties need to take talks seriously and declare a complete ceasefire, adding a consultative discussion is under way to decide a representative from K-P for the peace process.

Govt’s total of city’s UCs inaccurate

Earlier, during the fifth phase, Yousfzai had claimed the campaign would “target 97 union councils” in total.  On Sunday, the government’s claimed to have conducted Sehat ka Insaf across 94 UCs of Peshawar. These numbers rung alarm bells among residents as the city originally has 92 union councils.

The provincial capital was divided into 92 UCs during the delimitation carried out in 2001. The local government elections of 2001 and 2005 were also held in the 92 UCs and for the upcoming local bodies elections, village and neighborhood councils were also made on the basis of these 92 UCs.

The government’s repeated statements of covering 94 or 95 UCs is surprising as there has been no official notification about an increase in their number.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2014.