Fighting polio: Immunisation campaign starts in Bahawalpur

More than 580,000 children will be vaccinated.

BAHAWALPUR:

More than 580,000 children under the age of five will be administrated polio drops in Bahawalpur district during the three-day polio immunisation campaign from September 29 to October 1, Bahawalpur DCO Imran Sikandar Baloch said on Sunday.

He was speaking during the inauguration ceremony of the campaign held at Bahawal Victoria Hospital.

The DCO directed officials of the Health, Education and Social Welfare Department to ensure that no child was left behind. “It is very encouraging to note that no police case has surfaced in Bahawalpur district. We should continue our efforts to keep the district polio free,” he said.

He said the civil society should play its role in ensuring that the children received the polio vaccine.

Quaid-i-Azam Medical College Principal Prof Dr Haroon Rasheed Pasha said that the district administration and the Health Department were working effectively to ensure the elimination of polio.

EDO Shahid Shafiq said mobile teams would administer polio drops to the children at their homes.

“Polio teams have already been dispatched from Bahawalpur for Cholistan and other far away areas,” Shafiq said. He said that 1,019 mobile teams would visit the district. “Fifteen teams will remain at the General Bus Stand and 15 teams will vaccinate children in bazaars and markets,” he said.

The EDO said that the Education Department was also cooperating with the health authorities to eradicate polio. “More than 4,387 children have been vaccinated against polio in the flood-affected areas of the district,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2014.